Oi  vision...! 


SERMONS, 


PREACHED  IN  THE  TRON  CHURCH, 


(SlasfiToto, 


BY 


THOMAS  CHALMERS,  D.D. 


MINISTER  OF  THE  TRON  CHURCH,  GLASGOW. 


GLASGOW  PRINTED. 
NEW-YORK,  REPRINTED, 

rOR  KIRK  St  MERCEIN,  NO.  22  WALL-STREET, 


•\ 


William  A.  Merceio,  Priaterv 

1319. 


THE  MEMBERS 

OF    THE 

TRON  CHURCH  CONGREGATION,  GLASGOW, 

THE  FOLLOWING  SERMONS 

ARE    INSCRIBED, 

WITH  A  LIVELY  FEELING  ON  THE  PART  OF  THEIR  AUTHOR. 

OF  ALL  THE  KlNDNEiS  AND  GOOD  WILL 

WHICH  HE  HAS  EXPERIENCED, 

DURING  THE  TIME  OF  HIS  CONNEXION  WITH  THEM, 

AND 

WITH  EVERY  ASSURANCE  OF  HIS  AFFECTIONATE  DESIRE 

FOR  THEIR  BEST  INTERESTS. 


PREFACE. 


The  doctrine  which  is  most  urgently,  and  most 
frequently  insisted  on  in  the  following  volume, 
is  that  of  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  and 
it  were  certainly  cruel  to  expose  the  unworthi> 
ness  of  man  for  the  single  object  of  disturbing 
him.     But  the  cruelty  is  turned  into  kindness, 
when,  along  with  the  knowledge  of  the  disease, 
there  is  offered  an  adequate  and  all-powerful 
remedy.     It  is  impossible  to  have  a  true  per- 
ception of  our  own  character,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  without  feeling  our  need  of  acquittal; 
and  in  opposition  to  every  obstacle,  which  the 


VI  PREFACE. 

justice  oi  God  seems  to  hold  out  to  it,  this  want 
is  provided  for  in  the  Gospel.     And  it  is  equal- 
ly impossible,  to  have  a  true  perception  of  the 
character  of  God,  as  being  utterly  repugnant 
to  sin,  without  feehng  the  need  of  amendment; 
and   in  opposition  to    every    obstacle,  which 
the  impotency  of  man  holds  out  to  it,  this  want 
is  also  provided  for  in  the  Gospel.     There  we 
behold  the  amplest  securities  for  the  peace  of 
the  guilty.     But  there  do  we  also  behold  secu- 
rities equally  ample  for  their  progress,  and 
their  perfection  in  holiness.     Insomuch,  that 
in  every  genuine  disciple  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, we  not  only  see  one  who,  delivered  from 
the  burden  of  his  fears,  rejoices  in  hope  of  a 
coming  glory — but  we  see  one  who,  set  free 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  and  animated 
by  a  new  love  and  a  new  desire,  is  honest  in 
the  purposes,  and  strenuous  in  the  efforts,  and 
abundant  in  the  works  of  obedience.     He  feels 


PREFACE.  Vll 


the  instigations  of  sin,  and  in  this  respect  he 
differs  from  an  angel.  But  he  follows  not  the 
instigations  of  sin,  and  in  this  respect  he  dif- 
fers from  a  natural  or  unconverted  man.  He 
may  experience  the  motions  of  the  flesh — but 
he  walks  not  after  the  flesh.  So  that  in  him 
we  may  view  the  picture  of  a  man,  struggling 
with  effect  against  his  earth-born  propensities, 
and  yet  hateful  to  himself  for  the  very  exist- 
ence of  them — holier  than  any  of  the  people 
around  him,  and  yet  humbler  than  them  all — 
realizing,  from  time  to  time,  a  positive  increase 
to  the  grace  and  excellency  of  his  character, 
and  yet  becoming  more  tenderly  conscious 
every  day  of  its  remaining  deformities — gradu- 
ally expanding  in  attainment,  as  well  as  in 
desire,  towards  the  light  and  the  liberty  of 
heaven,  and  yet  groaning  under  a  yoke  from 
which  death  alone  will  fully  emancipate  him. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

When  time  and  space  have  restrained  an 
author  of  sermons  from  entering  on  what  may 
be  called  the  ethics  of  Christianity — it  is  the 
more  incumbent  on  him  to  avouch  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  gospel,  that  while  it  provides  di- 
rectly for  the  peace  of  a  sinner,  it  provides  no 
less  directly  and  efficiently  for  the  purity  of 
his  practice — that  faith  in  this  doctrine  never 
terminates  in  itself,  but  is  a  mean  to  holiness 
as  an  end — and  that  he  who  truly  accepts  of 
Christ,  as  the  alone  foundation  of  his  merito- 
rious acceptance  before  God,  is  stimulated,  by 
the    circumstances  of  his    new   condition,   to 
breathe  holy  purposes,  and  to  abound  in  holy 
performances.     He  is  created  anew  unto  good 
works.     He  is  made  the  workmanship  of  God 
m  Christ  .Tesus. 

The  anxious  enforcement  of  one  great  les- 
son on  the  part  of  a  writer,  generally  proceeds 


PREFACE.  IX 

from  the  desire  to  effect  a  full  and  adequate 
conveyance,  into  the  mind  of  another,  of  some 
truth  which  has  filled  his  own  mind,  by  a  sense 
of  its  importance;  and,  in  offering  this  volume 
to  the  public,  the  author  is  far  from  being  in- 
sensible to  the  literary  defects  that  from  this 
cause  may  be  charged  upon  it.  He  knows,  in 
particular,  that  throughout  these  discourses 
there  is  a  frequent  recurrence  of  the  same  idea, 
though  generally  expressed  in  different  lan- 
guage, and  with  some  new  speciahty,  either  in 
its  bearing  or  in  its  illustration.  And  he  further 
knows,  that  the  habit  of  expatiating  on  one 
topic  may  be  indulged  to  such  a  length,  as  to 
satiate  the  reader,  and  that,  to  a  degree,  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  his  forbearance. 

And  yet,  if  a  writer  be  conscious  that,  to 
gain  a  reception  for  his  favourite  doctrine, 
he  must  combat  with  certain  elements  of  op- 

T)osition,  in  the  taste,  or  the  pride,  or  the  indo 

1^ 


PREFACE. 


lence,  of  those  whom  he  is  addressing,  this 
will  only  serve  to  make  him  the  more  importu- 
nate, and  so  to  betray  him  still  farther  into 
the  fault  of  redundancy.  If  the  lesson  he  is 
urging  be  of  an  intellectual  character,  he  will 
labour  to  bring  it  home,  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble, to  the  understanding.  If  it  be  a  moral 
lesson,  he  will  labour  to  bring  it  home,  as  near- 
ly as  possible,  to  the  heart.  It  is  difficult, 
and  it  were  hard  to  say  in  how  far  it  would 
be  right,  to  restrain  this  propensity  in  the 
pulpit,  where  the  high  matters  of  salvation 
are  addressed  to  a  multitude  of  individuals, 
who  bring  before  the  minister  every  possible 
variety  of  taste  and  of  capacity;  and  it  is 
no  less  difficult,  when  the  compositions  of  the 
pulpit  are  transferred  to  the  press,  to  detach 
from  them  a  peculiarity  by  which  their  whole 
texture  may  be  pervaded,  and  thus  to  free 
them  from  what  may  be  counted  by  many  to 


PREFACE.  XI 

be  the  blemish  of  a  very  great  and  character- 
istic deformity. 

There  is,  however,  a  difference  between 
such  truths  as  are  merely  of  a  speculative 
nature,  and  such  as  are  allied  with  practice 
and  moral  feeling;  and  much  ought  to  be  con- 
ceded to  this  difference.  With  the  former, 
all  repetition  may  often  be  superfluous ;  with 
the  latter,  it  may  just  be  by  earnest  repetition, 
that  their  influence  comes  to  be  thoroughly 
established  over  the  mind  of  an  inquirer.  And 
if  so  much  as  one  individual  be  gained  over 
in  this  way  to  the  cause  of  righteousness, 
he  is  untrue  to  the  spirit  and  to  the  obliga- 
tions of  his  office,  who  would  not,  for  the  sake 
of  this  one,  wiUingly  hazard  all  the  rewards, 
and  all  the  honours  of  literary  estimation. 

And,  if  there  be  one  truth  which,  more  than 
another,   should  be  habitually  presented  to 


xii  PREFA^i 

the  notice,  and  proposed  to  the  conviction  of 
fallen  creatures,  it  is  the  humbling  truth  of 
their  own  depravity.  This  is  a  truth  which 
may  be  recognised  and  read  in  every  exhibi- 
tion of  unrenewed  nature;  but  it  often  lurks 
under  a  specious  disguise,  and  it  is  surely  of 
the  utmost  practical  importance  to  unveil  and 
elicit  a  principle,  which,  when  admitted  into 
the  heart,  may  be  considered  as  the  great  basis 
of  a  sinner's  relisrion. 


CONTENTS^ 


SERMON  I. 

THJE   NECESSITY   OF   THE    SPIRIT  TO   GIVE  EFFECT  TO  THE 
PREACHING  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

'■^  And  my  speech,  and  my  preaching,  was  not  with  enticing 
words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit  and  of  power ;  that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in 
the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God." — 1  CoR. 
ii.  4, 5.  - -        -        -        9 

SERMON  II. 

THE  MYSTERIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO  THE  MEN  OF 
THE  WORLD. 

"  Then  said  I,  Ah,  Lord  God !  they  say  of  me,  Doth  he 
not  speak  parables?"— EzEK.  XX.  49.    -       -       -       -      4e 


%IV  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  III. 

THE  PREPARATION  NECESSARY  FOR  UNDERSTANDING  THE 
MYSTERIES  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

"  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Because  it  is  given  unto 
you  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
but  to  them  it  is  not  given.  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him 
shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundance;  but 
whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even 
thathehath."—MATTH.xiii.  11,12.  -        -        -        -  64 

SERMON  IV. 

AN  ESTIMATE  OF  THE  MORALITY  THAT  IS  WITHOUT  GODLI- 
NESS. 

"  If  I  wash  myself  with  snow  water,  and  make  my  hands 
never  so  clean ;  yet  shalt  thou  plunge  me  in  the  ditch,  and 
mine  own  clothes  shall  abhor  me.  For  he  is  not  a  man, 
as  I  am,  that  I  should  answer  him,  and  we  should  come 
together  in  judgment.  Neither  is  there  any  day's-man 
betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both."— 
JOB  ix.  30—33. 87 

SERMON  V. 

THE  JUDGMENT  OF  MEN  COMPARED  WITH  THE  JUDGMENT 
OF  GOD. 

^*  With  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged 
of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment; — he  that  judgeth  me  is 
the  Lord."— 1  Cor.  iv.  3,  4. 107 

SERMON  VI. 

THB  NECESSITY  OF  A  MEDIATOR  BETWEEN  GOD  AND  MAN. 

"  Neither  is  there  any  day's-man  betwixt  us,  that  might  lay 
his  hand  upon  us  both." — job  ix.  38.     -        -        -        -    ISS 


CONTENTS.  XV 

SERMON  VII. 

tHE  FOLLY  OF  MEN  MEASURING  THEMSELVES  BY  THEM- 
SELVES. 

"  For  we  dare  not  make  ourselves  of  the  number,  or  com- 
pare ourselves  with  some  that  commend  themselves:  but 
they,  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  com- 
paring themselves  among  themselves,  are  not  wise."— 
2  Cor.  X.  12. 148 

SERMON  VIII. 

CHRIST  THE  WISDOM  OF  GOD. 

«  Christ  the  wisdom  of  God."— 1  Cor.  i.  24.    -        -        -    174 


SERMON  IX. 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  LOVE. 

•'*  Keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of  God."— Jude  21.    - 


19fi 


SERMON  X. 

ftRATlTHDF  NOT  A  SORDID   AFFECTION. 

"  We  love  him,  because  he  first  loved  us."— 1  John  iv.  19.      SI 7 
SERMON  XL 

THE  AFFECTION  OF  MORAL  ESTEEM  TOWARDS  GOD. 

"  One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will  I  seek 
after ;  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and 
to  inquire  in  his  temple."—  Psalm  xxvii.  4.  -        -        -    249 

SERMON  XIL 

THE  EMPTINESS  OF   NATURAL  VIRTUE. 

"  But  I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in 
you,'*— John  V.  42. -       -    279 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  XIII. 

i 

THE  NATURAL  ENMITY  OF  THE  MIND  AGAINST  GOD. 

"  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God." — Rom.  viii.  7.        SIS 
SERMON  XIV. 

THE  POWER  OF  THE   GOSPEL  TO   DISSOLVE   THE  ENMITY  OF 
THE  HUMAN  HEART  AGAINST  GOD. 

*'  Having  slain  the  enmity  thereby." — Ephes.  ii.  16.       -        S34 
SERMON  XV. 

THE  EVILS  OF  FALSE  SECURITY. 

"  They  have  healed  also  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  slightly,  saying,  Peace,  peace;  when  there  is  no 
peace."— Jer.  vi.  14    -        -        -        -        -        -        -    S52 

SERMON  XVI. 

THE    UNION  OF  TRUTH  AIND  MERCY  IN    THE  GOSPEL. 

"Mercy  and  truth  are  met  together;  righteousness  and 
peace  have  kissed  each  other." — Psalm  Ixxxv.  lO.  -    377 

SERMON  XVII. 

THE  PURIFYING  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAITH. 

"Sanctifiedby  faith."— Acts  xxvi.  18.  -        „        .        394 


SERMON  I. 


THE  NECESSITY  OP  THE  SPIRIT  TO  GIVE  EFFECT  TO 
THE  PREiVCHING  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


1  Corinthians,  ii.  4,  5. 

'*  And  my  speech,  and  my  preaching,  was  not  with  en- 
ticing words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  of  power  :  that  your  faith  should  not  stand 
in  the  wisdom  of  man,  but  in  the  power  of  God." 

Paul,  in  his  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
has  expressed  himself  to  the  same  effect  as  in 
the  text,  in  the  following  words :  "  Not  that  we 
are  sufficient  of  ourselves  to  think  any  thing  as 
of  ourselves;  hut  our  sufficiency  is  of  God;  who 
also  hath  made  us  ahle  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  Spirit." 
In  both  these  passages,  the  Apostle  points  to 
a  speciality  in  the  work  of  a  Christian  teacher, 
— a  something  essential  to  its  success,  and 
which  is  not  essential  to  the  proficiency  of  scho- 
lars in  the  ordinary  branches  of  education, — 
an  influence  that  is  beyond  the  reach  of  human 
power  and  human  wisdom;  and  to  obtain  which, 
immediate  recourse  must  be  had,  in  the  way  of 
prayer  and  dependence,  to  the  power  of  God. 

2 


10  SERMON  I. 

Without  attempting  a  full  exposition  of  these^ 
different  verses,  we  shall,  first,  endeavour  to  di- 
rect your  attention  to  that  part  of  the  work  of 
a  Christian  teacher,  which  it  has  in  common 
with  any  other  kind  of  education;  and,  secondly, 
offer  a  few  remarks  on  the  speciality  that  is 
adverted  to  in  the  text. 

I.  And  here  it  must  be  admitted,  that,  even 
in  the  ordinary  branches  of  human  learning,  the 
success  of  the  teacher,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  proficiency  of  the  scholars  on  the  other,  are 
still  dependent  on  the  will  of  God.  It  is  true, 
that,  in  this  case,  we  are  not  so  ready  to  feel 
our  dependence.  God  is  apt  to  be  overlooked 
in  all  those  cases  where  he  acts  with  unifor- 
mity. Wherever  we  see,  what  we  call,  the 
operation  of  a  law  of  nature,  we  are  apt  to 
^  shut  our  eye  against  the  operation  of  his  hand, 
and  faith  in  the  constancy  of  this  law,  is  sure 
to  beget,  in  the  mind,  a  sentiment  of  independ- 
ence on  the  power  and  will  of  the  Deity.  Now, 
in  the  matters  of  human  education,  God  acts 
with  uniformity.  Let  there  be  zeal  and  ability 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  and  an  ordinary 
degree  of  aptitude  on  the  part  of  the  taught, — 
and  the  result  of  their  vigorous  and  well  sus- 
tained co-operation  may  in  general  be  counted 
upon.  Let  the  parent,  who  witnesses  his  son's 
capacity,  and  his  generous  ambition  for  im- 
provement, send  him  to  a  well-qualified   in- 


SERMON  I.  U 

stiuctor,  and  he  will  be  filled  with  the  hope- 
fiil  sentiment  of  his  future  eminence,  without 
any    reference    to    God    whatever,— without 
so  much  as  ever  thinking  of  his  purpose  or 
of  his  agency  in  the  matter,  or  its  once  occur- 
ring to  him  to  make  the  proficiency  of  his  son 
the  subject  of  prayer.     This  is  the  way  in 
which  nature,  by  the  constancy  of  her  opera- 
tions, is  made  to  usurp  the  place  of  God:  and 
it  goes  far  to  spread,  and  to  establish  the  de- 
lusion, when  we  attend  to  the  obvious  fact,  that 
a  man  of  the  most  splendid  genius  may  be  des- 
titute of  piety  ;  that  he  may  fill  the  office  of  an 
instructor  with  the  greatest  talent  and  success, 
and  yet  be  without  reverence  for  God,  and 
practically  disown  him ;  and  that  thousands  of 
our  youth  may  issue  every  year  warm  from  the 
schools  of  Philosophy,  stored  with  all  her  les- 
sons, and   adorned  with  all  her  accomplish- 
ments,  and  yet  be  utter  strangers  to  the  power 
of  godliness,  and  be  filled  with  an  utter  dis- 
taste and   antipathy  for  its  name.      All   this 
helps  on  the  practical  conviction,  that  common 
education  is  a  business,  with  which  prayer  and 
the  exercise  of  dependence  on  God,  have  no 
concern.     It  is  true  that  a  Christian  parent 
will  see  through  the  vanity  of  this  delusion. 
Instructed  to  make  his  requests  known  unto 
God  in  all  things,  he  will  not  depose  him  from 
the  supremacy  of  his  power  and  of  his  govern- 
ment over  thisone  thing,— he  will  commit  toGod 


12  SERMON  I. 

the  progress  of  his  son  in  every  one  branch  of 
education  he  may  put  him  to, — and,  knowing 
that  the  talent  of  every  teacher,  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  zeal,  and  his  powers  of  commu- 
nication, and  his  faculty  of  interesting  the  at^ 
tention  of  his  pupils, — that  all  these  are  the 
gifts  of  God,  and  may  be  withdrawn  by  him  at 
pleasure, — he  will  not  suffer  the  regular  march 
and  movement  of  what  is  visible  or  created  to 
cast  him  out  of  his  dependence  on  the  Creator. 
He  will  see  that  every  one  element  which 
enters  into  the  business  of  education,  and  con- 
spires to  the  result  of  an  accomplished  and  a 
well-informed  scholar  is  in  the  hand  of  the 
Deity,  and  he  will  pray  for  the  continuation  of 
these  elements, — and  while  science  is  raising 
her  wondrous  monuments,  and  drawing  the 
admiration  of  the  world  after  her, — it  remains 
to  be  seen,  on  the  day  of  the  revelation  of  hid- 
den things,  whether  the  prayers  of  the  humble 
and  derided  Christian,  for  a  blessing  on  those 
to  whom  he  has  confided  the  object  of  his  ten- 
derness, have  not  sustained  the  vigour  and  the 
brilliancy  of  those  very  talents  on  which  the 
w^orld  is  lavishing  the  idolatry  of  her  praise. 

Let  us  now  conceive  the  very  ablest  of  these 
teachers,  to  bring  all  his  powers  and  all  his  ac- 
complishments, to  bear  on  the  subjectof  Christi- 
anity. Has  he  skill  in  the  languages  ?  The  very 
same  process  by  w^hich  he  gets  at  the  meaning 
of  any  ancient  author,  carries  him  to  a  fair 


SERMON  L  13 

and  a  faithful  rendering  of  the  scriptures 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  Has  he  a 
mind  enlightened  and  exercised  on  questions 
of  erudition  ?  The  very  same  principles  which 
qualify  him  to  decide  on  the  genuineness  of 
any  old  publication,  enable  him  to  demonstrate 
the  genuineness  of  the  Bible,  and  how  fully 
sustained  it  is  on  the  evidence  of  history. 
Has  he  that  sagacity  and  comprehension  of  ta- 
lent, by  which  he  can  seize  on  the  leading 
principles  which  run  through  the  writings  of 
some  eminent  philosopher  ?  This  very  exercise 
may  be  gone  through  on  the  writings  of  Inspir- 
ation; and  the  man,  who,  with  the  works  of 
Aristotle  before  him,  can  present  the  world 
with  the  best  system  or  summary  of  his  prin- 
ciples, might  transfer  these  very  powers  to  the 
works  of  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists,  and  pre- 
sent the  world  with  a  just  and  interesting 
survey  of  the  doctrines  of  our  faith.  And  thus 
it  is,  that  the  man  who  might  stand  the  highest 
of  his  fellows  in  the  field  of  ordinary  scholar- 
ship, might  turn  his  entire  mind  to  the  field  of 
Christianity  ;  and  by  the  very  same  kind  of  ta- 
lent, which  would  have  made  him  the  most 
eminent  of  all  the  philosophers,  he  might  come 
to  be  counted  the  most  eminent  of  all  the  the- 
ologians ;  and  he  who  could  have  reared  to  his 
fame  some  monument  of  literary  genius,  might 
now,  by  the  labours  of  his  midnight  oil,  rear 
some  beauteous  and  consistent  fabric  of  ortho- 


14  SERMON  I. 

doxy,  strengthened,  in  all  its  parts,  by  one  un- 
broken chain  of  reasoning,  and  recommended 
throughout  by  the  powers  of  a  persuasive  and 
captivating  eloquence. 

So  much  for  the  talents  which  a  Christian 
teacher  may  employ,  in  common  wdth  other 
teachers,  and  even  though  they  did  make  up 
all  the  qualifications  necessary  for  his  office, 
there  would  still  be  a  call,  as  we  said  before,  for 
the  exercise  of  dependence  upon  God.  Well 
do  we  know,  that  both  he  and  his  hearers  would 
be  apt  to  put  their  faith  in  the  uniformity  of 
nature ;  and  forgetting  that  it  is  the  inspiration 
of  the  Almighty  which  giveth  and  preserveth 
the  understanding  of  all  his  creatures,  might 
be  tempted  to  repose  that  confidence  in  man, 
which  displaces  God  from  the  sovereignty 
that  belongs  to  him.  But  what  we  wish  to  pre- 
pare you  for,  by  the  preceding  observations,  is. 
that  you  may  understand  the  altogether  pecu- 
liar call,  that  there  is  for  dependence  on  God  in 
the  case  of  a  Christian  teacher.  We  have  made 
a  short  enumeration  of  those  talents  which  a 
teacher  ofChristianity  might  possess,  in  common 
with  other  teachers  ;  but  it  is  for  the  purpose 
of  proving  that  he  might  possess  them  all,  and 
heightened  to  such  a  degree,  if  you  will,  as 
would  have  made  him  illustrious  on  any  other 
field,  and  yet  be  utterly  destitute  of  powers  for 
acquiring  himself,  or  of  experience  for  teach- 
ing others,  that  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Jesus 
Christ  which  is  life  everlasting. 


y 


SERMON  I.  i.'^ 

With  the  many  brilliant  and  imposing  things 
which  he  may  have,  there  is  one  thing  which 
he  may  not  have,  and  the  want  of  that  one 
thing  may  form  an  invincible  barrier  to  his  use- 
fulness in  the  vineyard  of  Christ,  f f,  conscious 
that  he  wants  it,  he  seek  to  obtain  from  God 
the  sufficiency  which  is  not  in  himself,  then  he 
is  in  a  likely  way  of  being  put  in  possession  of 
that  power,  which  alone  is  mighty  to  the  pull- 
ing down  of  strong  holds.  But  if  he,  on  the 
one  hand,  proudly  conceiving  the  sufficiency  to 
be  in  himself,  enters  with  aspiring  confidence 
into  the  field  of  argument,  and  think  that  he  is 
to  carry  all  before  him,  by  a  series  of  invincible 
demonstrations ;  or,  if  his  people,  on  the  other 
hand,  ever  ready  to  be  set  in  motion  by  the  idle 
impulse  of  novelty,  or  to  be  seduced  by  the  glare 
of  human  accomplishments,  come  in  trooping 
Hmltitudes  around  him,  and  hang  on  the  elo- 
quence of  his  lips,  or  the  wisdom  of  his  able  and 
profound  understanding,  a  more  unchristian  at- 
titude cannot  be  conceived,  nor  shall  we  ven- 
ture to  compute  the  weekly  accumulation  of 
guilt  which  may  come  upon  the  parties,  when 
such  a  business  as  this  is  going  on.  How  little 
must  the  presence  of  God  be  felt  in  that  place 
where  the  high  functions  of  the  pulpit  are  degrad- 
ed into  a  stipulated  exchange  of  entertainment 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  admiration  on  the  other ; 
and  surely  it  were  a  sight  to  make  angels  weep 
when  a  weak  and  vapouring  mortal,  surround- 


16  SERMON  1. 

ed  by  his  fellow  sinners,  and  hastening  to  the 
grave  and  the  judgment  along  with  them,  finds 
it  a  dearer  object  to  his  bosom,  to  regale  his 
hearers  by  the  exhibition  of  himself,  than  to  do 
in  plain  earnest  the  w^ork  of  his  Master,  and 
urge  on  the  business  of  repentance  and  of  faith 
by  the  impressive  simplicities  of  the  Gospel. 

II.  This  brings  us  to  the  second  head  of 
discourse,  under  which  we  shall  attempt  to 
give  you  a  clear  view  of  what  that  is  which  con- 
stitutes a  speciality  in  the  work  of  a  Christian 
teacher.  And  to  carry  you  at  once  by  a  few 
plain  instances  to  the  matter  we  are  aiming  to 
impress  upon  you,  let  us  suppose  a  man  to  take 
up  his  Bible,  and,  with  the  same  powers  of  at- 
tention and  understanding  which  enable  him  to 
comprehend  the  subject  of  any  other  book, 
there  is  much  in  this  book  also  which  he  will 
be  able  to  perceive  and  to  talk  of  intelligently* 
Thus,  for  example,  he  may  come,  by  the  mere 
exercise  of  his  ordinary  powers,  to  understand, 
that  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  which  taketh  of  the 
things  of  Christ  and  showeth  them  to  the  mind 
of  man.  But  is  not  his  understanding  of 
this  truth,  as  it  is  put  down  in  the  plain  lan- 
guage of  the  New  Testament,  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  Holy  Spirit  actually  taking  of 
these  things  and  showing  them  unto  him.^ 
Again,  he  will  be  able  to  say,  and  to  annex  a 
plain  meaning  to  what  he  says,  that  man  is  res- 
cued from  his  natural  darkness  about  the  things 


SERMON  I.  17 

of  God,  by  God  who  created  the  light  out  of 
darkness  shining  in  his  heart,  and  giving  him 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  his  glory  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.     But  is  not  his  saying  this, 
and   understanding  this,  by  taking  up   these 
words  in  the  same  obvious  way  in  which  any 
man  of  plain  and  honest  understanding  would 
do,  a   very  different  thing  from  God  actually 
putting   forth  his   creative   energy  upon  him, 
and  actually  shining  upon  his  heart,  and  giv- 
ing him  that  light  and  that  knowledge  which 
are  expressed  in  the  passage  here  alluded  to  ? 
Again,  by  the  very  same  exercise  wherewith  he 
renders  the  sentence  of  an  old  author  into  his 
own  language,  and  perceives  the  meaning  of 
that  sentence,  will  he  annex  a  meaning  to  the 
following  sentence  of  the  Bible—"  the  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  ;  neither 
can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually 
discerned."     By  the  mere  dint  of  that  shrewd- 
ness and  sagacity  with  which  nature  has  en- 
dowed him,  he  will  perceive  a  meaning  here 
which  you  will  readily  acknowledge  could  not 
be  perceived  by  a  man  in  a  state  of  idiotism. 
In  the  case  of  the  idiot,  there  is  a  complete 
barrier  against  his   ever  acquiring  that  con- 
ception of  the  meaning  of  this  passage,  which 
is  quite  competent  to  a  man  of  a  strong  and 
accomplished  understanding.     For   the   sake 
of  illustration,  we  may  conceive  this  poor  out- 

3 


la  SERMOJ^^  L 

cast  from  the  common  light  of  humanity,  in 
some  unaccountable  fit  of  attention,  listening 
to  the  sound  of  these  words,  and  making 
some  strenuous  but  abortive  attempts  to  arrive 
at  the  same  comprehension  of  them  with  a  man 
whose  reason  is  entire.  But  he  cannot  shake 
off  the  fetters  which  the  hand  of  nature  has 
laid  upon  his  understanding;  and  he  goes  back 
again  to  the  dimness  and  delirium  of  his  un- 
happy situation ;  and  his  mind  locks  itself  up  in 
the  prison-hold  of  its  confined  and  darkened  fa- 
culties ;  and  if,  in  his  mysterious  state  of  exist- 
ence, he  formed  any  conception  whatever  of 
the  words  now  uttered  in  your  hearing,  we  may 
rest  assured  that  it  stands  distinguished  by  a 
wide  and  impassable  chasm,  from  the  concep- 
tion of  him,  who  has  all  the  common  powers 
and  perceptions  of  the  species. 

Now,  we  would  ask  what  kind  of  conception 
is  that  which  a  man  of  entire  faculties  may  form.^ 
Only  grant  us  the  undeniable  truth,  that  he  may 
understand  how  he  cannot  discern  the  things  of 
the  Spirit,  unless  the  Spirit  reveal  them  to  him ; 
and  yet  with  this  understanding,  he  may  not 
be  one  of  those  in  behalf  of  whom  the  Spirit 
hath  actually  interposed  with  his  peculiar  office 
of  revelation ;  and  then  you  bring  into  view 
another  barrier,  no  less  insurmountable  than 
that  which  fixes  an  immutable  distinction  be- 
tween the  conceptions  of  an  idiot  and  of  a  man 
of  sense. — even  that  wonderful  barrier  which 


SERMON  I.  19 

separates  the  natural  from  the  spiritual  man. 
You  can  conceive  him  struggling  with  every 
power  which  Jiature  has  given  him  to  work 
his  way  through  this  barrier.  You  can  con- 
ceive him  vainly  attempting,  by  some  energies 
of  his  own,  to  force  an  entrance  into  that  field 
of  light  where  every  object  of  faith  has  the 
bright  colouring  of  reality  thrown  over  it, — 
where  he  can  command  a  clear  view  of  the 
things  of  eternity, — where  spiritual  truth  comes 
home  with  effect  upon  his  every  feeling  and  his 
every  conviction, — where  he  can  expatiate  at 
freedom  over  a  scene  of  manifestation,  which 
the  world  knoweth  not, — and  breathe  such  a 
peace,  and  such  a  joy,  and  such  a  holiness, 
and  such  a  superiority  to  time,  and  such  a  de- 
votedness  of  all  his  affections  to  the  things 
which  are  above,  as  no  man  of  the  highest  na- 
tural wisdom  can  ever  reach,  with  all  his  atten- 
tion to  the  Bible,  and  all  the  efforts  of  hig 
sagacity,  however  painful,  to  unravel,  and  to 
compare,  and  to  comprehend  its  passages. 
And  it  is  indeed  a  deeply  interesting  object  to 
see  a  man  of  powerful  understanding  thus  visit- 
ted  withan  earnest  desire  after  the  light  of  the 
gospel,  and  toiling  at  the  entrance  with  all 
the  energies  which  belong  to  him, — pressing 
into  the  service  all  the  resources  of  argument 
and  philosophy, — mustering,  to  the  high  enter- 
prise, his  attention,  and  his  conception,  and  his 
reason,  and   his   imagination,  and  the  whole 


20  SERMON  I. 

host  of  his  other  faculties,  on  which  science  ha? 
conferred  her  imposing  names,  and  laid  before 
us  in  such  a  pompous  catalogue,  as  might  tempt 
us  to  believe,  that  man,  by  one  mighty  grasp 
of  his  creative  mind,  can  make  all  truth  his  own, 
and  range  at  pleasure  Over  the  wide  variety 
of  her  dominions.  How  natural  to  think  that 
the  same  powers  and  habits  of  investigation 
which  carried  him  to  so  respectable  a  height  in 
the  natural  sciences  will  enable  him  to  clear  his 
w^ay  through  all  the  darknesses  of  theology.  It  is 
well  that  he  is  seeking, — for  if  he  persevere 
and  be  in  earnest,  he  will  obtain  an  interest 
in  the  promise,  and  will  at  length  find : — but 
not  till  he  find,  in  the  progress  of  those  in- 
quiries on  which  he  entered  with  so  much 
alacrity,  and  prosecuted  with  so  much  confi- 
dence, that  there  is  a  barrier  between  him  and 
the  spiritual  discernment  of  his  Bible,  which 
all  the  powers  of  philosophy  cannot  scale, — 
not  till  he  find,  that  he  must  cast  down  his 
lofty  imaginations,  and  put  the  pride  of  all  his 
powers  and  all  his  pretensions  away  from  him, 
— not  till  he  find,  that  divested  of  those  fancies 
which  deluded  his  heart  into  a  feeling  of  its 
own  sufficiency,  he  must  become  like  a  little 
child,  or  one  of  those  babes  to  whom  God  re- 
veals the  things  which  he  hides  from  the  wise 
and  from  the  prudent, — not  till  he  find,  that 
the  attitude  of  self  dependence  must  be  bro- 
ken down,  and  he  be  brought  to  acknowledge 


SERMON  I.  2] 

that  the  light  he  is  aspiring  after,  is  not  cre- 
ated by  himself,  but  must  be  made  to  shine 
upon  him  at  the  pleasure  of  another, — not  in 
short,  till  humbled  by  the  mortifying  experience 
that  many  a  simple  cottager  who  reads  his 
Bible  and  loves  his  Saviour  has  got  before  him, 
he  puts  himself  on  a  level  with  the  most 
illiterate  of  them  all,  and  prays  that  light  and 
truth  may  beam  on  his  darkened  understand- 
ing from  the  sanctuary  of  God. 

We  read  of  the  letter,  and  we  read  also  of 
the  spirit,  of  the  New  Testament.     It  would  re- 
quire a  volume,  rather  than  a  single  paragraph 
of  a  single  sermon,  to  draw  the  line  between 
the  one  and  the  other.     But  you  will  readily  ac- 
knowledge that  there  are  many  things  of  this 
book  which  a  man,  though  untaught  by  the  Spi- 
rit of  God,  may  be  made  to  know.     One  of  the 
simplest  instances  is,  he  may  learn  the  number  of 
chapters   in  every  book,  and  the  number  of 
verses  in  every  chapter.  But  is  this  all?  No, — for 
by  the  natural  exercise  of  his  memory  he  may 
be  able  to  master  all  its  historical  information. 
And  is  this  all  ?  No, — for  by  the  natural  exer- 
cise of  his  judgment  he  may  compare  scripture 
with  scripture, — he  may  learn  wliat  its  doctrines 
are,— he  may  demonstrate  the  orthodoxy  of  every 
one  article  in  our  national  confession, — he  may 
rank  among  the  ablest  and   most  judicious  of 
the   commentators, — he   may   read,  and  with 
understanding  too,  many  a  ponderous  volume, 


^ 


22  SERMON  I. 

— he  may  store  himself  with  the  learning  of 
many  generations, — he  may  be  familiar  with  all 
the  systems,  and  have  mingled  with  all  the  con- 
troversies,— and  yet,  with  a  mind  supporting  as 
it  does  the  burden  of  the  erudition  of  whole  li- 
braries, he  may  have  gotten  to  himself  no  other 
wisdom  than  the  wisdom  of  the  letter  of  the 
New  Testament.  The  man's  creed,  with  all  its 
arranged  and  its  well  weighed  articles,  may  be 
no  better  than  the  dry  bones  in  the  vision  of 
Ezekiel,  put  together  into  a  skeleton,  and  fast- 
ened with  sinews,  and  covered  with  flesh  and 
skin,  and  exhibiting  to  the  eye  of  the  spectators, 
the  aspect,  and  the  lineaments  of  a  man,  but 
without  breath,  and  remaining  so,  till  the  Spirit 
of  God  breathed  into  it,  and  it  lived.  And  it 
is  in  truth  a  sight  of  wonder,  to  behold  a  man 
who  has  carried  his  knowledge  of  Scripture  as 
far  as  the  wisdom  of  man  can  carry  it, — to  see 
him  blest  with  all  the  light  w  hich  nature  can 
give,butlabouring  under  all  the  darkness  which 
no  power  of  nature  can  dispel, — to  see  this  man 
of  many  accomplishments,  who  can  bring  his 
every  power  of  demonstration  to  bear  upon 
the  Bible,  carryhig  in  his  bosom  a  heart  un- 
cheered  by  any  one  of  its  consolations,  unmov- 
ed by  the  influence  of  any  one  of  its  truths,  un- 
shaken out  of  any  one  attachment  to  the  world, 
and  an  utter  stranger  to  those  high  resolves, 
and  the  power  of  those  great  and  animating 
prospects,  which  shed,  a  glory  over  the  daily 


SERMON  1.  23 

walk  of  a  believer,  and  give  to  every  one  of 
his  doings  the  high  character  of  a  candidate 
for  eternity. 

We  are  quite  aware  of  the  doubts  which  this 
is  calculated  to  excite  in  the  mind  of  the  hearer, 
— nor  is  it  possible  within  the  compass   of  an 
hour    to    stop  and   satisfy    them  all ;    or   to 
come  to  a  timely  conclusion,  without  leaving 
a  number  of  unresolved   questions  behind  us. 
There  is  one,  however,  which  we  cannot  pass 
without  observation.     Does  not  this  doctrine 
of  a  revelation  of  the  Spirit,  it  may  be  asked, 
additional  to  the  revelation  of  the  w^ord,  open  a 
door  to  the  most  unbridled  variety  ?  May  it  not 
give  a  sanction  to  any  conceptions  of  any  vision- 
ary pretenders,  and  clothe  in  all  the  authority  of 
inspiration,  a  set  of  doctrines  not  to  be  found  with- 
in the  compass  of  the  written  record?  Doesitnot 
set  aside  the  usefulness  of  the  Bible,  and  break  in 
upon  the  unity  and  consistency  of  revealed  truth, 
by   letting  loose  upon  the  world  a  succession 
of  fancies,  as  endless  and  as  variable  as  are  the 
caprices  of  the  human  imagination?  All  very  true, 
did  we  ever  pretend  that  the  office  of  the  Spi- 
rit was  to  reveal  any  thing  additional  to  the  in- 
formation, whether  in  the  way  of  doctrine    or 
of  duty,   which  the  Bible  sets  before  us.     But 
his  office,  as  defined  by  the  Bible  itself,  is  not 
to  make  known  to  us  any  truths  which  are  not 
contained  in   the  Bible ;  but  to  make  clear  to 
our  understandings  the  truths  which  are  con- 


24  SERMON  1. 

tained  in  it.  He  opens  our  understandings 
to  understand  the  Scriptures.  The  word  ot 
God  is  called  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  the 
instrument  by  which  the  Spirit  worketh.  He  does 
not  tell  us  any  thing  that  is  out  of  the  record ; 
but  all  that  is  within  it  he  sends  home,  with 
clearness  and  effect,  upon  the  mind.  He  does 
not  make  us  wise  above  that  which  is  written  ; 
but  he  makes  us  wise,  up  to  that  which  is  written. 
When  a  telescope  is  directed  to  some  distant 
landscape,  it  enables  us  to  see  what  we  could 
not  otherwise  have  seen ;  but  does  it  not  enable 
us  to  see  any  thing  which  has  not  a  real  ex- 
istence in  the  prospect  before  us.  It  does  not 
present  to  the  eye  any  delusive  imagery,— rnei- 
ther  is  that  a  fanciful  and  fictitious  scene  which 
it  throws  open  to  our  contemplation.  The  na- 
tural eye  saw  nothing  but  blue  land  stretching 
along  the  distant  horizon.  By  the  aid  of  the 
glass,  there  bursts  upon  it  a  charming  variety 
of  fields,  and  woods,  and  spires,  and  villages. 
Yet  who  would  say  that  the  glass  added  one 
feature  to  this  assemblage  ?  It  discovers  no- 
thing to  us  which  is  not  there ;  nor,  out  of  that 
portion  of  the  book  of  nature  which  we  are  em- 
ployed in  contemplating,  does  it  bring  into  view 
a  single  character  which  is  not  really  and  pre- 
viously inscribed  upon  it.  And  so  of  the  Spirit. 
He  does  not  add  a  single  truth,  or  a  single  cha- 
racter, to  the  book  of  revelation.  He  enables 
the  spiritual  man  to  see  what  the  natural  man 


SERMON  I.  25 

cannot  s6e ;  but  the  spectacle  which  he  lays 
open  is  uniform  and  immutable.  It  is  the  word 
of  God,  which  is  ever  the  same ; — and  he,  whom 
the  Spirit  of  God  has  enabled  to  look  to  the  Bi- 
ble with  a  clear  and  affecting  discernment,  sees 
no  phantom  passing  before  him;  but,  amid  all 
the  visionary  extravagance  with  which  he  is 
charged,  can,  for  every  one  article  of  his  faith, 
and  every  one  duty  of  his  practice,  make  his  tri- 
umphant appeal  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony. 
We  trust  that  this  may  be  made  clear  by  one 
example.  We  have  not  to  travel  out  of  the  re- 
cord for  the  purpose  of  having  this  truth  made 
known  to  us, — that  God  is  every  where  present. 
It  meets^  the  observation  of  the  natural  man  in 
his  reading  of  the  Bible  ;  and  he  understands, 
or  thinks  he  understands,  the  terms  in  which  it 
is  delivered ;  and  he  can  speak  of  it  with  con- 
sistency ;  and  he  ranks  it  with  the  other  attri- 
butes of  God ;  and  he  gives  it  an  avowed  and  a 
formal  admission  among  the  articles  of  his  creed ; 
and  yet,  with  all  this  parade  of  light  and  of 
knowledge,  he,  upon  the  subject  of  the  all-see- 
ing and  the  ever-present  Deity,  labours  under 
all  the  obstinacy  of  an  habitual  bhndness.  Car- 
ry him  abroad,  and  you  will  find  that  the  light 
which  beams  upon  his  senses,  from  the  objects 
of  sight,  completely  overpowers  that  light 
which  ought  to  beam  upon  his  spirit,  from  this 
object  of  faith.  He  may  occasionally  think  of 
it  as  he  does  of  other  things  ;  but  for  every  one 
4 


50  SERMON  L 

practical  purpose  the  thought  abandons  him,  so 
soon  as  he  goes  into  the  next  company,  or  takes 
a  part  in  the  next  worldly  concern,  which,  in 
the  course  of  his  business  comes  round  to  him. 
It  completely  disappears  as  an  element  of  con- 
duct, and  he  talks,  and  thinks,  and  reasons,  just 
as  he  would  have  done,  had  his  mind,  in  refer- 
ence to  God,  been  in  a  state  of  entire  darkness. 
If  any  thing  like  a  right  conception  of  the  mat- 
ter ever  exist  in  his  heart,  the  din  and  the 
day -light  of  the  world  drive  it  all  away  from 
him.  Now,  to  rectify  this  case,  it  is  surely  not 
necessary,  that  the  Spirit  add  any  thing  to  the 
truth  of  God's  omnipresence,  as  it  is  put  down 
in  the  written  record.  It  will  be  enough,  that 
he  gives  to  the  mind  upon  which  he  operates,  a 
steady  and  enduring  impression  of  this  truth. 
Now,  this  is  one  part  of  his  office,  and  accord- 
ingly it  is  said  of  the  unction  of  the-  Spirit,  that 
it  is  an  unction  which  remaineth.  Neither  is 
it  necessary  that  the  light,  which  he  communi- 
cates, should  consist  in  any  vision  which  he 
gives  to  the  eye,  or  in  any  bright  impression 
upon  the  fancy,  of  any  one  thing  not  to  be 
found  within  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  It  will 
be  enough  if  he  give  a  clear  and  vigorous 
apprehension  of  the  truth,  just  as  it  is  writ- 
ten, to  the  understanding.  Though  the  Spirit 
should  do  no  more  than  give  vivacity  and  effect 
to  the  truth  of  the  constancy  of  God's  presence, 
just  as  it  stands  in  the  written  record — this  will 


SERMON  1.  -  27 

be  quite  enough  to  make  the  man  who  is  under 
its   influence   carry   an  habitual  sense  of  God 
about  with  him,  think  of  him  in  the  shop  and  in 
the  market-place,  walk  with  him  all  the  day 
Jong,  and  feel  the  same  moral  restraint  upon 
his  doings,  as  if  some  visible  superior,  whose 
virtues  he  revered,  and  whose  approbation   he 
longed    after,   haunted  his  every  footstep,  and 
kept  an  attentive  eye  fastened  upon  the  whole 
course  of  his  history.     The  natural  man  may 
have  sense,  and  he  may  have  sagacity,  and  a 
readiness   withal    to  admit  the  constancy  of 
God's  presence,  as  an  undeniable  doctrine  of 
the  Bible.     But  to  the  power  of  this  truth  he 
is  dead ;  and   it  is  only  to  the  power  of  this 
world's  interests  and  pleasures  that  he  is  alive. 
The  spiritual  man  is  the  reverse  of  all  this,  and 
that  without  carrying  his  conceptions  a   single 
hair  breadth  beyond  the  communications  of  the 
written  message.     He  makes  no  pretensions  to 
wisdom  by  one  jot  or  one  tittle  beyond  the  tes- 
timony  of  Scripture,    and  yet,   after   ail,   he 
lives  under  a  revelation  to  which  the  other  is  a 
stranger.     It  does  not  carry  him  by  a  single 
footstep  without  the  field  of  the  written  revela- 
tion, but  it  throws  a  radiance  over  every  object 
within  it.     It  furnishes   him  with  a  constant 
light  which  enables  him  to  withstand  the  do- 
mineering influence  of  sight  and,of  sen^e.     He 
dies  unto  the  world,  he  lives  unto  God,— and 
the  reason  is,  that  there  rests  upon  him  a  pe- 


28  SERiMON  1. 

culiar  manifestation,  by  which  the  truth  is  made 
visible  to  the  eye  of  his  mind,  and  a  peculiar 
energy,  by  which  it  comes  home  upon  his  con- 
science.    And  if  you  come  to  inquire  into  the 
cause  of  this  speciality,  it  is  the  language  of  the 
Bible,  confirmed,  as  we  believe  it  to  be,  by  the 
soundest  experience,  that  every  power  which 
nature  has  conferred  upon  man,  exalted  to  its 
highest  measure,  and  called  forth  to  its  most 
strenuous  exercise,  is  not  able  to  accomplish  it, 
— that  it  is  due  to  a  power  above  nature,  and 
beyond  it;    that  it  is  due  to  what  the  Apostle 
calls  the   demonstration  of  the  Spirit,— a  de- 
monstration withheld    from   the   self-sufficient 
exertions  of  man,   and  given  to  his  believing 
prayers. 

And  here  we  are  reminded  of  an  instructive 
passage  in  the  life  of  one  of  our  earliest  and 
most  eminent   reformers.     When  the  light  of 
divine  truth  broke  in  upon  his  heart,  it  was  so 
new  and  so  delightful  to  one  formerly  darkened 
by  the  errors  of  popery, — he  saw  such  a  power 
and  such  an  evidence  along  with  it, — he  was  so 
ravished  by  its  beauties,   and  so  carried  along 
by  its  resistless  arguments,  that  he  felt  as  if  he 
had  nothing  to  do,  but  to  brandish  those  mighty 
weapons, that  he  might  gain  all  hearts  and  car- 
ry  every    thing  before  him.     But  he  did  not 
calculate  on  the  stubborn  resistance  of  corrupt 
human  nature,   to  him   and  to  his  reasonings. 
lie  preached,  and  he  argued,  and  he  put  forth 


SERMON  I.  29 

all  his  powers  of  eloquence  amongst  them.  But 
mortified  that  so  many  hearts  remained  har- 
dened, that  so  many  hearers  resisted  him,  that 
the  doors  of  so  many  hearts  were  kept  shut  in 
spite  of  all  his  loud  and  repeated  warnings,  that  „ 
so  many  souls  remained  unsubdued,  and  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins,  he  was  heard  to  ex- 
claim, that  old  Adam  was  too  strong  for  young 
Melancthon. 

There  is  the  malignity  of  the  fall  which,  ad- 
heres to  us.     There  is  a  power  of  corruption 
and  of  blindness  along  with  it,  which  it  is  be- 
yond the  compass  of  human  means  to  over- 
throw.    There  is  a  dark  and  settled  depravity 
in   the  human  character,  which  maintains  its 
gloomy  and  obstinate  resistance  to  all  our  warn- 
ings and  all  our  arguments.     There  is  a  spirit 
working  in  the  children  of  disobedience  which 
no  power  of  human  eloquence  can  lay.    There 
is  a  covering  of  thick  darkness  upon  the  face  of 
all  people,  a  mighty  influence  abroad  upon  the 
world,  with  which  the  Prince  of  the  power  of  the 
air  keeps  his  thousands  and  his  tens  of  thousands 
under  him.     The  minister  who  enters  into  this 
field  of  conflict  may  have  zeal,  and  talents,  and 
eloquence.    His  heart  may  be  smitten  with  the 
love  of  the  truth,  and  his  mind  be  fully  fraught 
with  its  arguments.    Thus  armed,  he  may  come 
forth  among  his  people,  flushed  with  the  mighty 
enterprise  of  turning  souls  from  the  dominion 
of  Satan  unto  God.     In  all  the  hope  of  victory 


30  SERMON  I. 

he  may  discharge  the  weapons  of  his  warfare 
among  them.  Week  after  week,  he  may  reason 
with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures.  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath,  he  may  declaim,  he  may  demonstrate, 
he  may  put  forth  every  expedient,  he  may  at 
one  time  set  in  array  before  them  the  terrors 
of  the  law,  at  another  he  may  try  to  win  them 
by  the  free  offer  of  the  Gospel ;  and,  in  the 
proud  confidence  of  success,  he  may  think  that 
nothing  can  withstand  him,  and  that  the  heart 
of  every  hearer  must  give  way  before  the  ar- 
dour of  his  zeal  and  the  power  of  his  invin- 
cible arguments.  Yes;  they  may  admire  himy 
and  they  may  follow  him,  but  the  question  we 
have  to  ask  is,  will  they  be  converted  by  him  ? 
They  may  even  go  so  far  as  to  allow  that  it  is 
all  very  true  he  says.  He  may  be  their  fa- 
vourite preacher,  and  when  he  opens  his  ex- 
hortations upon  them,  there  may  be  a  deep  and 
a  solemn  attention  in  every  countenance.  But 
how  is  the  heart  coming  on  all  the  while  ? 
How  do  these  people  live,  and  what  evidence 
are  they  giving  of  being  born  again  under  the 
power  of  his  ministry?  It  is  not  enough  to  be 
told  of  those  momentary  convictions  which 
flash  from  the  pulpit,  and  carry  a  thrilling  in- 
fluence along  with  them  through  the  hearts  of 
listening  admirers.  Have  these  hearers  of  the 
word,  become  the  doers  of  the  word  ?  Have 
they  sunk  down  into  the  character  of  humble, 
and  sanctified,  and  penitent,  and  pains-taking 


SERMON  I.  31 

Christians?  Where,  where,  is  the  fruit?  And 
while  the  preaching  of  Christ  is  all  their  joy, 
has  the  will  of  Christ  become  all  their  direc- 
tion ?  Alas,  he  may  look  around  him,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  after  all  the  tumults  of  a  i 
sounding  popularity,  he  may  find  the  great  bulk 
of  them  just  where  they  were, — as  listless  and 
unconcerned  about  the  things  of  eternity, — as 
obstinately  alienated  from  God, — as  firmly  de- 
voted t<y  selfish  and  transitory  interests,- — as 
exclusively  set  upon  the  farm,  and  the  money, 
and  the  merchandise, — and,  with  the  covering 
of  many  external  decencies,  to  make  them  as 
fair  and  plausible  as  their  neighbours  around 
them,  proving  by  a  heart  given,  with  the  whole 
tide  of  its  affections,  to  the  vanities  of  the  world, 
that  they  have  their  full  share  of  the  wickedness 
which  abounds  in  it.  After  all  his  sermons, 
and  all  his  loud  and  passionate  addresses,  he 
finds  that  the  power  of  darkness  still  keeps  its 
ground  among  them.  He  is  grieved  to  learn 
that  all  he  has  said,  has  had  no  more  effect, 
than  the  foolish  and  the  feeble  lispings  of 
infancy.  He  is  overwhelmed  by  a  sense  of  his 
own  helplessness,  and  the  lesson  is  a  wholesome 
one.  It  makes  him  feel  that  the  sufficiency  is 
not  in  him,  but  in  God;  it  makes  him  under- 
stand that  another  power  must  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  mass  of  resistance  which  is  be- 
fore him  ;  and  let  the  man  of  confident  and  as- 
piring genius,  who  thought  he  was  to  assail  the 


32  SERMON  I, 

dark  seats  of  human  corruption,  and  to  carry 
them  by  storm,  let  him  be  reduced  in  morti- 
fied and  dependent  humbleness  to  the  expe- 
dient of  the  Apostle,  let  him  crave  the  inter- 
cessions of  his  people,  and  throw  himself  upon 
their  prayers. 

Let  us  now  bring  the  whole  matter  to  a  prac- 
tical conclusion.  For  the  acquirement  of  a 
saving  and  spiritual  knowledge  of  the  gospel, 
you  are,  on  the  one  hand,  to  put  forth  all  your 
ordinary  powers,  in  the  very  same  way  that  you 
do  for  the  acquirement  of  knowledge  in  any  of 
the  ordinary  branches  of  human  learning.  But 
in  the  act  of  doing  so,  you,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  to  proceed  on  a  profound  impression  of  the 
utter  fruitlessness  of  all  your  endeavours,  unless 
God  meet  them  by  the  manifestations  of  his 
Spirit.  In  other  words,  you  are  to  read  your 
Bible,  and  to  bring  your  faculties  of  attention, 
and  understanding,  and  memory,  to  the  exercise 
just  as  strenuously  as  if  these  and  these  alone 
could  conduct  you  to  the  light  after  which  you 
are  aspiring.  But  you  are  at  the  same  time  to 
pray  as  earnestly  for  this  object,  as  if  God  ac- 
complished it  without  your  exertions  at  all,  in- 
stead of  accomplishing  it  in  the  way  he  actually 
does,  by  your  exertions.  It  is  when  your  eyes 
are  turned  toward  the  book  of  God's  testimony, 
and  not  when  your  eyes  are  turned  away  from 
it,  that  he  fulfils  upon  you  the  petition  of  the 
Psalmist, — "Lord,  do  thou  open  mine  eyes, that 


SERMON  I.  33 

-  1  may  behold  the  wondrous  things  contained  J 
•^  in  thy  law."  You  are  not  to  exercise  your  fa- 
culties in  searching  after  truth  without  prayer, 
else  God  will  withhold  from  you  his  illuminating 
influences.  And  you  are  not  to  pray  for  truth, 
without  exercising  your  faculties,  else  God  will 
reject  your  prayers,  as  the  mockery  of  a  hypo- 
crite. But  you  are  to  do  both,  and  this  is  in 
harmony  with  the  whole  style  of  a  Christian's 
obedience,  who  is  as  strenuous  in  doing  as  if 
his  doings  were  to  accomplish  all,  and  as  fer- 
vent in  prayer  as  if  without  the  inspiring  ener- 
gy of  God,  all  his  doings  were  vanity  and  fee- 
bleness. And  the  great  Apostle  may  be  quoted 
as  the  best  example  of  this  observation. 

There  never  existed  a  man  more  active  than 
Paul,  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
How  great  the  weight  and  the  variety  of  his  la- 
bours! What  preaching,  what  travelling,  what 
writing  of  letters,  what  daily  struggling  with 
difficulties,  what  constant  exercise  of  thought 
in  watching  over  the  Churches,  what  a  world  of 
perplexity  in  his  dealings  with  men,  and  in  the 
hard  dealings  of  men  with  him ;  and  were  they 
friends,  or  were  they  enemies,  how  his  mind 
behoved  to  be  ever  on  the  alert,  in  counselling 
the  one  and  in  warding  off  the  hostility  of  the 
other.  Look  to  all  that  is  visible  in  the  life  of 
this  Apostle,  and  you  see  nothing  but  bustle, 
and  enterprise,  and  variety.  You  see  a  man 
intent  on  the  furtherance  of  some  great  object, 

5 


34  SERMON  I. 

and  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  as  ever  diligent, 
and  as  ever  doing,  as  if  the  whole  burden  of  it 
lay  upon  himself,  or  as  if  it  were  reserved  for 
the  strength  of  his  solitary  arm  to  accomplish 
it.  To  this  object  he  consecrated  every  mo- 
ment of  his  time,  and  even  when  he  set  him 
down  to  the  work  of  a  tent-maker,  for  the  sake 
of  vindicating  the  purity  of  his  intentions,  and 
holding  forth  an  example  of  honest  independ- 
ence to  the  poorer  brethren ;  even  here,  you 
just  see  another  display,  of  the  one  principle 
which  possessed  his  whole  heart,  and  gave 
such  a  character  of  w^ondrous  activity  to  all  the 
days  of  his  earthly  pilgrimage.  There  are 
some,  who  are  so  far  misled  by  a  kind  of  per- 
verse theology  which  they  have  adopted,  as  to 
hesitate  about  the  lawfulness  of  being  diligent 
and  doing  in  the  use  of  means.  While  they  are 
slumbering  over  their  speculation,  and  proving 
-,  how  honestly  they  put  faith  in.it  by  doing  no- 
thing, let  us  be  guided  by  the  example  of  the 
pains-taking  and  industrious  Paul,  and  remem- 
ber, that  never  since  the  days  of  this  Apostle, 
w  ho  calls  upon  us  to  be  the  followers  of  him, 
even  as  he  was  of  Christ, — never  were  the 
labours  of  human  exertion  more  faithfully  ren- 
dered,— never  were  the  workings  of  a  human 
instrument  put  forth  with  greater  energy. 

But  it  forms  a  still  more  striking  part  of  the 
example  of  Paul,  that  while  he  did  as  much  to- 


SERMON  r.  35 

ward  the  extension  of  the  Christian  fgiith,  as  if 
the  whole  success  of  the  cause  depended  upon 
his  doing, — he  prayed  as  much,  and  as  fervent- 
ly, for  this  object,  as  if  all  his  doings  were  of 
no  consequence.  A  fine  testimony  to  the  supre- 
macy of  God,  from  the  man,  who,  in  labours 
was  more  abundant  than  any  who  ever  came 
after  him,  that  he  counted  all  as  nothing,  unless 
God  would  interfere  to  put  his  blessing  upon 
all,  and  to  give  his  efficiency  to  all !  He  who 
looked  so  busy,  and  whose  hand  was  so  con- 
stantly engaged,  in  the  work  that  was  before 
him,  looked  for  all  his  success  to  that  help 
which  Cometh  from  the  sanctuary  of  God. 
There  was  his  eye  directed.  Thence  alone  did 
he  expect  a  blessing  upon  his  endeavours.  He 
wrought,  and  that  with  diligence  too,  because 
God  bade  him ;  but  he  also  prayed,  and  that 
with  equal  diligence,  because  God  had  reveal- 
ed to  him,  that  plant  as  he  may,  and  water  as  he 
may,  God  alone  giveth  the  increase.  He  did 
homage  to  the  will  of  God,  by  the  labours  of 
the  ever-working  minister, — and  he  did  hom- 
age to  the  power  of  God,  by  the  devotions  of 
the  ever-praying  minister.  He  did  not  say, 
what  signifies  my  working,  for  God  alone  can 
work  with  effect  ?-  This  is  very  true,  but  God 
chooses  to  work  by  instruments, — and  Paul, 
by  the  question,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?"  expressed  his  readiness  to  be  an 
instrument  in  his  hand.     Neither  did  he  say, 


36  SERMOiN  I 

what  signifies  my  praying,  for  1  have  got  a  work 
here  to  do,  and  it  is  enough  that  I  be  diligent 
in  the  performance  of  it.  No — For  the  power 
of  God  must  be  acknowledged,  and  a  sense  of 
his  power  must  mingle  with  all  our  perform- 
ances; and  therefore  it  is  that  the  Apostle  kept 
both  working  and  praying,  and  with  him  they 
formed  two  distinct  emanations  of  the  same 
principle ;  and  while  there  are  many  who  make 
these  Christian  graces  to  neutralize  each  other, 
the  judicious  and  the  clear-sighted  Paul,  who 
had  received  the  spirit  of  a  sound  mind,  could 
give  his  unembarrassed  vigour  to  both  these 
exercises,  and  combine,  in  his  own  example, 
the  utmost  diligence  in  doing,  with  the  utmost 
dependence  on  him  who  can  alone  give  to  that 
doing  all  its  fruit  and  all  its  efficacy. 

The  union  of  these  two  graces  has  at  times 
been  finely  exemplified  in  the  later,  and  unin- 
spired ages  of  the  Christian  church ;  and  the 
case  of  the  missionary  Elliot  is  the  first,  and 
the  most  impressive  that  occurs  to  us.     His 
labours,  like  those  of  the  great  Apostle,  were 
directed  to  the  extension  of  the  vineyard  of 
Christ, — and  he  was  among  the  very  first  who 
put  forth  his  hand  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
American  wilderness.     For  this  purpose  did 
he  set  himself  down  to  the  acquirement  of  a 
harsh  and  barbarous  language;  and  he  became 
qualified  to  confer  with  savages ;  and  he  grap- 
pled for  years  with  their  untractable  humours; 


SERMON  L  37 

and  he  collected  these  wanderers  into  villages; 
and  while  other  reformers  have  ennobled  their 
names  by  the  formation  of  a  new  set  of  public 
laws,  did  he  take  upon  him  the  far  more  ardu- 
ous task  .of  creating  for  his  untamed  Indians,  a 
new  set  of  domestic  habits  ;  and  such  was  the 
power  of  his  influence  that  he  carried  his  chris- 
tianizing system  into  the  very  bosom  of  their 
families  ;  and  he  spread  art,  and  learning,  and 
civilization  amongst  them;  and  to  his  visible 
labours  among  his  people  he  added  the  labours 
of  the  closet ;  and  he  translated  the  whole  Bi- 
ble into  their  tongue ;  and  he  set  up  a  regular 
provision  for  the  education  of  their  children ; 
and  lest  the  spectator  who  saw  his  fourteen 
towns  risen  as  by  enchantment  in*the  desert, 
and  peopled  by  the  rudest  of  its  tribes,  should 
ask  in  vain  for  the  mighty  power  by  which  such 
wondrous  things  had  been  brought  to  pass, — 
this  venerable  priest  left  his  testimony  behind 
him;  and  neither  overlooking  the  agency  of 
God,  nor  the  agency  of  man  as  the  instrument 
of  God,  he  tells  us  in  one  memorable  sentence 
written  by  himself  at  the  end  of  his, Indian 
grammar,  that  "  prayers  and  pasns  through 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus  can  do  any  thing." 

The  last  inference  we  shall  draw  from  thi? 
topic,  is  the  duty  and  importance  of  prayer 
among  Christians,  for  the  success  of  the  minis- 
try of  the  Gospel.  Paul  had  a  high  sense  of  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.     Not  according  to  that  re- 


38  SERMON  1. 

fined  view  of  it,  which,  making  all  its  influence 
to  consist  in  its  improving  and  moralizing  effect 
upon  the  mind,  fritters  down  to  nothing  the 
plain  import  and  significancy  of  this  ordinance. 
With  him  it  was  a  matter  of  asking  and  of  re- 
earthly  benefit  which  is  at  the  giving  of  ano- 
ceiving.     And  just  as  when  in  pursuit  of  some 
t-her,  you  think  yourselves  surer  of  your  object 
the  more  you  multiply  the  number  of  askers 
and  the   number  of  applications — in  this  very 
way  did  he,  if  we  may  be  allowed  the  expression, 
contrive  to  strengthen  and  extend  his  interest 
in  the  court  of  heaven.     He  craved  the  inter- 
cessions of  his  people.     There  w^ere  many  be- 
lievers formed  under  his  ministry,  and  eadi  of 
these  could  bring  the  prayer  of  faith  to  bear 
upon  the  counsels  of  God,  and  bring  down  a 
larger  portion  of  strength  and  of  fitness  to  rest 
on  the  Apostle  for  making  moi'te  believers.     It 
was  a  kind  of  creative  or  accumulating  process. 
After  he  had  travailed  in  birth  with  his  new 
converts  till  Christ  was  formed  in  them — this 
was  the  use  he  put  them  to.  It  is  an  expedient 
w^iich  harnaonizes  with  the  methods  of  Provi- 
dence and  the  will  of  God,  who  orders  inter- 
cessions, and  on  the  very  principle  too,  that  he 
willeth  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth.     The  intercession  of 
Christians,  who  are  already  formed,  is  the  lea- 
ven which  is  to  leaven  the  whole  earth  with 
Christianity.     It  is  one  of  the  destined  instfu- 


SERMON  I.  39 

merits  in  the  hand  of  God  for  hastening  the 
glory  of  the  latter  days.  Take  the  world  at 
large,  and  the  doctrine  of  intercession,  as  an 
engine  of  mighty  power,  is  derided  as  one  of 
the  reveries  of  fanaticism.  This  is  a  subject  on 
which  the  men  of  the  world  are  in  a  deep  slum- 
ber ;  but  there  are  watch^nen  who  never  hold 
their  peace  day  nor  night,  and  to  them  God 
addresses  these  remarkable  words,  "  Ye  that 
make  mention  of  the  Lord,  keep  not  silence, 
and  give  hipi  no  rest,  till  he  establish,  and  till 
he  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth." 


SERMON  II. 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO  THE 
MEN  OF 'the  world. 


EZEKIEL  XX.  49. 


'•  Then  said  I,  Ah,  Lord  God  I  they  say  of  me,  Doth  he 
not  speak  parables  ?" 

In  parables,  the  lesson  that  is  meant  to  be  con= 
veyed  is  to  a  certain  degree  shaded  in  obscu- 
rity. They  are  associated  by  the  Psalmist  with 
dark  sayings — "  I  will  open  my  mouth  in  a  pa- 
rable, I  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old."  We 
read  in  the  New  Testament  of  a  parable  leav- 
ing all  the  effect  of  an  unexplained  mystery 
upon  the  understanding  of  the  general  au- 
dience to  which  it  was  addressed ;  and  the  ex- 
planation of  the  parable  given  to  a  special  few 
was  to  them  the  clearing  up  of  a  mystery.  "  It 
is  given  unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven;  but  to  them  it  is  not 
given !" 

The  prophets  of  old   were  often   commis- 
sioned to  address  their  countrymen  under  the 
(  guise  of  symbolical  language.     This  threw  a 


SERMON  11.  41 

veil  over  the  meaning  of  their  communications ; 
and  though  it  was  a  veil  of  such  transparency 
as  could  be  seen  through  by  those  who  looked 
earnestly  and  attentively,  and  with  a  humble 
desire  to  be  taught  in  the  will  of  God, — yet 
there  was  dimness  enough  to  intercept  all  the 
moral,  and  all  the  significancy,  from  the  minds 
of  those  who  wanted  principle  to  be  in  earnest ; 
or  who  wanted  patience  for  the  exercise  of 
attention ;  or  who  wanted  such  a  concern  about 
God,  as  either  to  care  very  much  for  his  will, 
or  to  feel  that  any  thing  which  respected  him 
was  worth  the  trouble  of  a  very  serious  inves- 
tigation. 

They  who  wanted  this  concern  and  this  prin- 
ciple, from  them  was  taken  [away  even  that 
which  they  had.  God  at  length  ceased  from 
his  messages,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  ceased 
from  his  warnings.  They  who  had  the  prepara- 
tion of  all  this  docility,  to  them  more  was  given. 
Their  honest  desire  after  knowledge  was  re- 
warded by  the  acquirement  of  it.  They  conti- 
nued to  look,  and  to  inquire,  and  at  length  they 
were  illuminated;  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the 
saying  of  the  Saviour,  that  "  whosoever  hath, 
to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more 
abundantly, — but  whosoever  hath  not,  from 
him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  he  hath." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  obscure 
intimations  of  Ezekiel  would  be  taken  by  the 
careless  and  ungodly  men  of  his  generation. 

6 


42  SERMON  II. 

It  is  likelj  that  even  from  the  naked  denuncia- 
tions of  vengeance  they  would  have  turned 
contemptuously  away.  And  it  is  still  more 
likely  that  they  would  refuse  the  impression  of 
them,  when  offered  to  their  notice,  under  a  fig- 
urative disguise.  It  is  not  at  all  to  be  supposed 
that  they  would  put  forth  any  activity  of 
mind  in  quest  of  that  which  they  nauseated,  and 
of  that  which,  if  ever  they  had  found,  they 
would  have  found  to  be  utterly  revolting  to  all 
their  habits  of  impiety.  They  are  the  very  last 
men  we  should  expect  to  meet  with  at  the  work 
of  a  pains-taking  search  aller  the  interpreta- 
tion of  these  parables.  Nay,  they  would  gladly 
fasten  upon  the  obscurity  of  them  both  as  a 
circumstance  of  reproach  against  the  prophet, 
and  as  an  apology  for  their  own  indiflference. 
And  thus  it  is,  that  to  be  a  teacher  of  parables 
might  at  length  become  a  scoff  and  a  by-word ; 
and  the  prophet  seems  to  have  felt  the  force  of 
it  as  an  opprobrious  designation,  seems  to  be 
looking  forward  to  the  mixture  of  disdain  and 
impatience  with  which  he  would  be  listened 
to,  when  God  charged  him  with  an  allegorical 
communication  to  his  countrymen,  and  he  an- 
swered, "Ah,  Lord  God  !  they  say  of  me.  Doth 
he  not  speak  parables  ?" 

Now  the  question  we  have  to  put  is — Is  there 
no  similar  plea  of  resistance  ever  preferred 
against  the  faithful  messengers  of  God  in  the 
present  day  ?   It  is  true,  that  in  our  time  there 


SERMON  ir.  4S 

is  no  such  thing  as  a  man  coming  amongst  you, 
charged  with  the  utterance  of  a  direct  and  per- 
sonal inspiration.     But  it   is  the  business  of 
every  minister  truly  to  expound  the  record  of 
inspiration ;  and  is  it  not  very  possible  that  in 
so  doing  he  may  be  reproached,  not  for  preach- 
ing parabolically,  but  for  preaching  mysterious- 
ly ?  Have  you  never  heard  of  a  sermon  being 
called  mystical ;  and  what  shall  we  think  of  it, 
if,  in  point   of  fact,  this  imputation  falls  most 
readily  and  most  abundantly  on  the  sermon 
that  is  most  pervaded  by   the  spirit,  and  most 
overrun  with  the  phraseology  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament ?  In  that  composition  there  are  certain 
terms  which  recur  incessantly,  and  which  would 
therefore  appear    to   represent    certain  very 
leading  and  prominent  ideas.     Now,  whether 
are  these  ideas  clearly  and  promptly  suggested 
to  your  mind,  by  the  utterance  of  the  terms  ? 
What  are  the  general  character  and  effect  which 
in  your  eye  is  imparted  to  a  sermon,  when, 
throughout  the  whole   of  it,  the  words  of  the 
apostolic  vocabulary  are  ever  and  anon  obtrud- 
ed upon  your  hearing — and  the  whole  stress  of 
the  argument  is  made  to  lie  on  such  matters  as 
sanctification  ;    and  the  atonement ;    and   the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant ;  and  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  takes  up   his 
habitation  in  the  soul  of  the  believer;  and  sal- 
vation by  grace;  and  the   spirit  of  adoption 
poured  forth  on  the  heart,   and  filling  it  with 


44  SERMON  II. 

all  the  peace  and  joy  of  a  confident  reconcilia- 
tion ;  and  the  exercise  of  fellowship  with  the 
Father,  and  the  Son ;  and  the  process  of  grow- 
ing up  unto  Christ ;  and  the  habit  of  receiving 
out  of  his  fulness,  and  of  beholding  with  open 
face  his  glory,  so  as  to  be  changed  into  the 
same  image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  We  are  not  at  present 
asking,  if  you  feel  the  disgust  with  which  un- 
subdued nature  ever  listens  to  these  represen- 
tations; or  in  what  degree  they  are  offensive 
to  your  taste,  and  painfully  uncongenial  with 
the  whole  style  and  habit  of  your  literature. 
But  we  ask,  if  such  terms  and  such  phrases  as 
have  now  been  specified,  do  not  spread  before 
the  eye  of  your  mind  an  aspect  of  exceeding 
dimness  over  the  preacher's  demonstration  ? 
Does  he  not  appear  to  you  as  if  he  wrapped 
himself  up  in  the  obscurity  of  a  technical  lan- 
guage, which  you  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to  com- 
prehend ?  When  the  sermon  in  question  is  put 
by  the  side  of  some  lesson  of  obvious  morality, 
or  some  exposition  of  those  principles  which 
are  recognised  and  acted  upon  in  ordinary  life, 
does  it  not  look  to  you  as  if  it  w^as  shrouded 
from  common  observation  altogether ;  and  that 
ere  you  could  be  initiated  into  the  mystery  of 
such  language  and  of  such  doctrine,  you  would 
need  to  describe  a  mighty  and  still  untrodden 
interval  from  all  your  present  habits  of  con- 
ception?   And  yet,  what  if  it  be  indeed  the 


SERMON  li.  45 

very  language  and  the  very  doctrine  of  the 
New  Testament? — if  all  the  jargon  that  is 
charged  on  the  interpretation  of  the  word  be 
the  actual  word  itself? — and  if  the  preacher  be 
faithfully  conveying  the  message  of  the  Bible, 
at  the  very  time  that  the  hearer  is  shielding 
himself  from  the  impression  of  it,  by  the  saying, 
that  he  preacheth  mysteries  ? 

But  to  keep  the  two  parties  at  a  still  more 
hopeless  distance  from  each  other, — the  mes- 
sage of  such  a  preacher,  incomprehensible  as 
many  of  its  terms  and  many  of  its-  particulars 
may  be,  evidently  bears  a  something  upon  it 
that  is  fitted  to  alarm  the  fears,  and  utterly  to 
thwart  the  strongest  tendencies  of  nature.  Let 
him  be  just  a  faithful  expounder  of  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  let  the  blindness  of  the 
natural  man  be  what  it  may,  still  there  is 
scarcely  a  hearer  who  can  fail  to  perceive, 
that,  anterior  to  the  reception  of  this  Gospel, 
the  preacher  looks  upon  him  as  the  enemy  of 
God, — and  strongly  points  at  such  a  contro- 
versy between  him  and  his  Maker,  as  can  only 
be  made  up  through  an  appointed  Mediator — 
and  requires  of  him  such  a  faith  as  will  trans- 
form his  character,  and  as  will  shift  the  whole 
currency  of  his  affections  and  desires — and  af- 
firms the  necessity  of  such  a  regeneration,  as 
that  all  old  things  shall  be  done  away,  and  all 
things  shall  become  new ; — and  lets  him  know, 
that  to  be  a  Christian  indeed  he  must  die  unto 


4ft  SERMON  IL 

sense,  he  must  be  crucified  unto   the  world, 
and,  renouncing  its  charms  and  its  predilec- 
tions, must  learn  to  have   his  conversation!  in 
heaven,  and  to  choose  God  as  the  strength  of 
his  heart  and  his  portion  for  evermore.     All 
this  flashes   plainly  and    significantly  enough, 
through  that  veil  of  mysticism  w^hich  appears 
to    overspread  the   general    doctrine    of  the 
preacher ;  and  imparts  a  forbidding  character 
to  it  in  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom  we  are  al- 
luding; and  they  will  be  glad  of  any  pretence 
to  shun  a  painful  and  a  revolting  contemplation ; 
and  they  will  complain  of  him  on  the   very 
ground  on  which  the  Jews  of  old  complained 
of  Ezekiel,  as  a  dealer  in  parables — and  while 
much  of  their  antipathy  is  founded  upon  his 
being  so  strict  and  so  spiritual,  and  so  unac- 
commodating to  the   general  tone  of  society, 
one  of  the  charges  which  will  be  most  frequently 
and  most  loudly  preferred  against  him,  is  that 
he  is  so  very  mysterious. 

In  the  prosecution  of  the  following  discourse, 
we  shall  endeavour  in  the  first  place  to  state 
shortly  the  ground  on  which  the  religion  of 
the  New  Testament  looks  so  mysterious  a 
thing  to  the  men  of  the  world,  and  then  con- 
clude with  a  short  practical  remonstrance  upon 
this  subject. 

I.  There  are  certain  experiences  of  human 
life   so  oft  repeated, '  and  so  familiar  to   all 


SERMON  II.  47 

our  recollections,  that  when  we  perceive,  or 
think  we  perceive,  an  analogy  between  them 
and  the  matters  of  religion,  then  religion  does 
not  appear  to  us  to  be  mysterious.  There  is 
not  a  more  familiar  exhibition  in  society  than 
that  of  a  servant  who  performs  his  allotted 
work,  and  who  obtains  his  stipulated  reward 
— and  we  are  all  servants,  and  one  is  our  mas- 
ter, even  God.  There  is  nothing  more  com- 
mon than  that  a  son  should  acquit  himself  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  parents, — and  we  are  all 
the  children  of  an  universal  parent,  whom  it 
is  our  part  to  please  in  all  things.  Even  when 
that  son  falls  under  displeasure,  and  is  either 
visited  with  compunction  or  made  to  receive 
the  chastisement  of  his  disobedience,  there  is 
nothing  more  common  than  to  witness  the  re^ 
len tings  of  an  earthly  father,  and  the  readi- 
ness with  which  forgiveness  is  awarded  on  the 
repentance  and  sorrow  of  the  offender, — and 
we,  in  like  manner,  liable  to  err  from  the  pure 
law  of  heaven,  have  surely  a  kind  and  indul- 
gent Father  to  deal  with.  And,  lastly,  there 
is  nothing  more  common  than  that  the  loyalty 
of  a  zealous  and  patriotic  subject  should  be 
rewarded  by  the  patronage,  or,  at  least,  by  the 
protection,  of  the  civil  magistrate, — and  that 
an  act  of  transgression  against  the  laws  should 
be  visited  by  an  act  of  vengeance  on  the  part 
of  him  who  is  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  while  a 
praise  to  such  as  do  well.     And  thus  it  is  too, 


4a  SERMON  II. 

that  we  are  under  a  lawgiver  in  iieaven  who  is 
able  both  to  save  and  to  destroy.  Now  so  long 
as  the  work  of  religious  instruction  can  be  up- 
held by  such  analogies  as  these, — so  long  as 
the  relations  of  civil  or  of  domestic  society  can 
be  employed  to  illustrate  the  relation  between 
God  and  the  creatures  whom  he  has  formed, — 
so  long  as  the  recollections  of  daily  experience 
can  thus  be  applied  to  the  method  of  the  divine 
administration, — a  vein  of  perspicuity  will  ap- 
pear to  run  through  the  clear  and  rational  ex- 
position of  him  who  has  put  all  the  mist  and  all 
the  technicals  of  an  obscure  theology  away 
from  him.  All  his  lessons  will  run  in  an  easy 
and  direct  train.  Nor  do  we  see  how  it  is  pos- 
sible to  be  bewildered  amongst  such  explana- 
tions, as  are  suggested  by  the  most  ordinary 
doings  and  concerns  of  human  society ; — and 
did  the  preacher  only  confine  himself  to  such 
doctrine,  as  that  God  rewards  the  upright,  and 
punishes  the  rebellious,  and  upon  the  impulse 
of  that  compassion  which  belongs  to  him,  takes 
again  the  penitent  into  acceptance,  and  in  the 
great  day  of  remuneration,  will  give  unto  every 
man  according  to  his  works, — did  he  only  con- 
fine himself  to  truths  so  palpable,  and  build 
upon  it  applications  so  obvious,  as  just  to  urge 
us  to  the  performance  of  duty  by  the  promised 
reward,  and  deter  us  from  the  infraction  of  it  by 
the  severities  of  the  threatened  punishment, 
and  call    us   to  reformation  by  affectionately 


SERMON  II.  49 

pleading  with  us  the  mercies  of  God,  and  warn 
us  with  all  his  force  and  all  his  fidelity,  that 
should  we  persist  in  obstinate  impenitence  we 
shall  be  cut  off  from  happiness  forever, — there 
might  be  something  to  terrify,— but  there  would 
at  least  be  nothing  to  darken  or  to  perplex  us  in 
these  interpretations,— nothing  that  would  not 
meet  common  intelhgence,  and  be  helped  for- 
ward by  all  the  analogies  of  common  observa- 
tion,— and  should    this    therefore    prove  the 
great  burden  of  the  preacher's  demonstration, 
we  should  be  the  last  to  reproach   him,  as  a 
dealer  in  parables,  or  as  a  dealer  in  mysteries. 
To  attach  us  the  more  to  this  rational  style  of 
preaching,  we  cannot  but  perceive  that  it  ob- 
tains a  kind  of  experimental  countenance  from 
the  actual  distinctions  of  character  which  are 
realized  in  the  peopled  world  around  us.     Can 
any  thing  be  more  evident  than  that  there  is  a 
line  of  separation  between  the  sensual  and  the 
temperate,  between  the  selfish  and  the  disinter- 
ested, between  the  sordid  and  the  honourable  ; 
or  if  you  require  a  distinction  more  strictly  re- 
ligious, between  the  profane  and  the  decent 
keeper  of  all  the  ordinances  ?     Do  not  the'for- 
mer  do  what,  in  th^  matter  of  it,  is  contrary  to 
the  law  of  God,  and  the  latter  do  what,  in  the 
matter  of  it,  is  agreeable  to  that  law  ?    -Here 
then  at  once  we  witness  the  two  grand  divi- 
sions of  human  society,  in  a  state  of  real  and  vi- 
sible exemplification — ^^and  what  more  is  neces- 
7 


50  SERMON  U. 

sary  than  just  to  employ  the  most  direct  and 
intelHgible  motives  of  conduct,  for  persuading 
men  to  withdraw  from  one  of  these  divisions, 
and  pass  over  to  the  other  of  them  ?    Surely  it 
is  just  as  we  occupy  the  higher  and  the  lower 
places  in  the  scale  of  character,  that  we  shall 
be  found  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  hand  of 
the  judge  on  the  day  of  reckoning:  And  what 
more  obvious  way  than  of  preparing  a  people 
for  eternity — than  just  to  point  our  urgency  to 
the  one  object  of  prevailing  upon  men  to  cross 
the  line  of  separation,  to  cease  from  the  iniqui- 
ties which  abound  on  the  one  side  of  it,  and  to 
put  on  the  reformations  which  are  practised  on 
the  other  side  of  it  ?  For  this  purpose,  what 
else  is  to  be  done  than  plainly  to  tell  the  whole 
amount   of  the  interest  and  obligation  which 
lies  on  the  side  of  virtue,  and  as  plainly  to  tell 
of  the  ruin  and  the  degradation  both  of  cha- 
racter and  of  prospect  which  lie  on  the  side  of 
vice, — to  press  the  accomplishments  of  a  good 
life  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  denounce  the  false- 
hoods and  the  dishonesties,  and  the  profliga- 
cies, of  a  bad  life  on  the  other, — in  a  word,  to 
make  our  hearers  the  good  subjects  of  God, 
much  in  the  same  way,  as  you  would  propose 
to  make  them  the  good  servants  of  their  mas- 
ter, or  the  good  subjects  of  their  government; 
and  thus  by  the   simple  and  direct   enforce- 
ments of  duty,  to  shun  all  the  difficulties  of  a 


SERMON  11.  51 

scholastic  theology,  and  to  keep  clear  of  all 
its  mysteriousness. 

It  is  needless  to  say  how  much  this  process 
is  reversed  by  many  a  teacher  of  Christianity. 
It  is  true,  that  they  hold  out  most  prominently 
the  need  of  some  great  transition — but  it  is  a 
transition  most  mysteriously  different  from  the 
act  of  crossing  that  line  of  separation,  to  which 
we  have  just  been  adverting.     Without  refer- 
ring at  all  in  fact  to  any  such  line,  do  they  come 
forth  from  the  very  outset  with  one  sweeping 
denunciation  of  worthlessness  and  guilt,  which 
they  carry  round  among  all  the  varieties   of 
character,  and  by  which  they  affirm  every  in- 
dividual of  the  human  race,  to  be  an  undone 
sinner  in  the  sight  of  God.     Instead  of  bidding 
him  look  to  other  sinners  less  deformed  by 
blemishes,  and  more  rich  in  moral  accomplish- 
ments, than  himself,  and  then  attempt  to  re- 
cover his  distance  from  the  divine  favour  by  the 
imitation  of  them,  they  bid  him  think  of  the 
awful  amount  of  debt  and  of  deficiency  that 
lies  between   the  lawgiver  in  heaven,  and  a 
whole  world  guilty   before  him.     They  speak 
of  a  depravity  so  entire,  and  of  an  alienation 
from  God  so  deep,  and  so  universal,  as  posi- 
tively to  obliterate  that  line  of  separation  which 
is  supposed  to  mark  off  those,  who,  upon  the 
degree  of  their  obedience,  are  rightful  claim- 
ants to  the  honours  of  eternity,   from  those, 
who,  upon  the  degree  of  their  disobedience, 


52  SERMON  IL 

are  the  wretched  outcasts  of  condemnation. 
They  reduce  the  men  of  all  casts  and  of  all 
characters,  to  the  same  footing  of  worthless- 
ness  in  the  sight  of  God ;  and  speak  of  the 
evil  of  the  human  heart  in  such  terms,  as  will 
sound  to  many  a  mysterious  exaggeration,  and. 
like  the  hearers  of  Ezekiel,  will  these  not  be 
able  to  comprehend  the  argument  of  the 
preacher,  when  he  tells  them,  though  in  the 
very  language  of  the  Bible,  that  they  are  the 
heirs  of  wrath ;  that  none  of  them  is  righteous, 
no  not  one ;  that  all  flesh  have  corrupted  their 
ways,  and  have  fallen  short  of  the  glory  of  God ; 
that  the  world  at  large  is  a  lost  and  a  fallen 
world,  and  that  the  natural  inheritance  of  all 
who  live  in  it,  is  the  inheritance  of  a  temporal 
death,  and  a  ruined  eternity. 

When  the  preacher  goes  on  in  this  strain, 
those  hearers  whom  the  Spirit  has  not  con- 
vinced of  sin  will  be  utterly  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand him, — nor  are  we  to  wonder,  if  he  seem  to 
speak  to  them  in  a  p?irable,  when  he  speaks  of 
the  disease, — that  all  the  darkness  of  a  parable 
V  /  should  still  seem  to  hang  over  his  demonstra- 
^  tions,  when,  as  a  faithful  expounder  of  the  re- 
vealed will  and  counsel  of  God,  he  proceeds  to 
tell  them  of  the  remedy.  For  God  hath  not 
only  made  known  the  fearful  magnitude  of  his 
reckoning  against  us,  but  he  has  prescribed, 
and  with  that  authority  which  only  belongs  to 
him,  the  way  of  its  settlement ;  and  he  has  told 


SERMON  11.  53 

us  that  all  .the  works  and  all  the  efforts  of  un- 
renewed nature  are  of  no  avail,  in  gaining  us 
acceptance,  and  that  he  has  laid  the  burden  of 
our  atonement  on  him  who  alone  was  able  to 
bear  it;  and  he  not  only  invites,  but  he  com- 
mands,  and  he  beseeches   us,   to  enter  into 
peace  and  pardon  on  the  footing  of  that  expia- 
tion which  Christ  hath  made,  and  of  that  right- 
eousness which  Christ  hath  wrought  out  for  us ; 
and  he   further  declares,  that  we  have  come 
into  the  world  with  such  a  moral  constitution, 
as  will  not  merely  need  to  be  repaired,  but  as 
will  need  to  be  changed  or  made  over  agam, 
ere   we   be  meet  for  the  inheritance   of  the 
saints;  and  still  for  this  object  does  he  point 
our  eyes  to  the  great  Mediator  who  has  under- 
taken, not  merely  for  the  forgiveness,  but  who 
has  undertaken  for  the  sanctification  of  all  who 
put  their  trust  in  him;  arfd  he  announces  that 
out  of  his  fulness  there  ever  come  forth  sup- 
plies of  strength  for  the  new  obedience  of  new 
creatures  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Now,  it  is 
when  the  preacher  is  unfolding  this  scheme  of 
salvation,— it  is  when  he  is  practically  applying 
it  to  the  conscience  and  the  conduct  of  his 
hearers,— it  is  when  the  terms  of  grace,  and 
faith,  and  sanctification,  are  pressed  into  fre- 
quent employment  for  the  work  of  these  very 
peculiar  explanations,— it  is,  when  instead  of 
illustrating  his  subject  by  those  analogies  of 
common  life  which  might  have  done  for  men 


54  .         SERMON  IL 

of  an  untainted  nature,  but  which  will  not  do 
for  the  men  of  this  corrupt  world,  he  faithfully 
unfolds  that  economy  of  redemption  which  God 
hath  actually  set  up  for  the  recovery  of  our  de- 
generate species, — it  is  then,  that  to  a  hearer 
still  in  darkness,  the  whole  argument  sounds 
as  strangely  and  as  obscurely,  as  if  it  were 
conveyed  to  him  in  an  unknown  language, — it  is 
then,  that  the  repulsion  of  his  nature  to  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  finds  a  willing  excuse  in 
the  uttfer  mysteriousness  of  its  articles,  and  its 
terms;  and  gladly  does  he  put  away  from  him 
the  unwelcome  message,  with  the  remark,  that 
he  who  delivers  it,  is  a  speaker  of  parables, 
and  there  is  no  comprehending  him. 

It*  will  readily  occur  as  an  observation  upon 
all  that  has  been  delivered,  that  by  the  great 
majority  of  hearers,  this  imputation  of  mysteri- 
ousness is  never  preferred, — that  in  fact,  they 
are  most  habituated  to  this  style  of  preaching, 
— and  that  they  recognise  the  very  thing  which 
they  value  most,  and  are  best  acquainted  with, 
when  they  hear  a  sermon  replete  with  the  doc- 
trine, and  abounding  in  the  terms,  and  uttered 
in  the  cadence  of  orthodoxy.  Of  this  we  are 
perfectly  aware.  The  point  to  carry  with  the 
great  bulk  of  hearers  is,  not  to  conquer  their 
disgust  at  the  form  of  sound  words,  but  to  con- 
quer their  resistance  to  the  power  of  them ;  to 
alarm  them  by  the  consideration,  that  the  in- 
fluence of  the  lesson  is  altogether  a  distinct 


SERMON  II. 


Ob 


matter  from  the  pleasantness  of  the  song, — that 
their  ready  and  delighted  acquiescence  in  the 
preaching  of  the  faith,  may  consist  with  a  total 
want  of  obedience  to  the  faith, — and  that  with 
all  the  love  they  bear  to  the  phraseology  of  the 
gospel,  and  all  their  preference  for  its  minis- 
ters, and  all  their  attendance  upon  its  sacra- 
ments, the  kingdom  of  God,  however  much  it 
may  have  come  to  them  in  word,  may  not  at  all 
have  come  to  them  in  power.  This  is  a  dis- 
tinct error  from  the  one  we  have  been  combat- 
ing,— a  weed  which  grows  abundantly  in  an- 
other quarter  of  the  field  altogether, — a  per- 
verseness  of  mind,  more  deceitful  than  the 
other,  and  perhaps  still  more  unmanageable, 
and  against  which,  the  faithful  minister  has  to 
set  himself  amongst  that  numerous  class  of  pro- 
fessors, who  like  to  hear  of  the  faith,  but  never 
apply  a  single  practical  test  to  the  question, 
Am  I  in  the  faith  ?  who  like  to  hear  of  regene- 
ration, but  never  put  the  question.  Am  I  really 
regenerated  ?  who  like  to  hear  that  without 
Christ  they  can  do  nothing,  but  may  be  enabled 
to  do  all  things  through  him  strengthening  them 
but  never  enter  into  the  important  personal  in- 
quiry, Is  he  really  strengthening  me,  and  am  L 
by  my  actual  victory  over  the  world,  and  my 
actual  progress  in  the  accomplishments  of  per- 
sonal Christianity,  bearing  evidence  upon  my- 
self that  I  have  a  real  part  and  interest  in  these 
things? 


m  SERMON  11. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  existence 
of  such  a  class, — and  under  another  text,  there 
could  be  no  difficulty  in  finding  out  a  scriptural 
application,  by  which  to  reach  and  to  reprove 
them.  But  the  matter  suggested  by  the  present 
text  is,  that  if  a  minister  of  the  present  day 
should  preach  as  the  Apostles  did  before  him, 
— if  the  great  theme  of  his  ministrations  be 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified,-^if  the  doctrine 
of  the  sermon  be  a  faithful  transcript  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  New  Testament, — there  is  one 
class,  we  have  every  warrant  for  believing, 
from  whom  the  word  will  not  return  unto  him 
void, — and  there  is  another  clase  who  will  be 
the  willing  hearers,  but  not  the  obedient  doers 
of  the  word:  But  there  is  still  a  third  class,  made 
up  of  men  of  cultivated  literature,  and  men  of 
polished  and  respectable  society,  and  men  of 
a  firm  secular  intelligence  in  all  the  ordinary 
matters  of  business,  who,  at  the  same  time, 
possessing  no  sympathies  whatever  with  the 
trufe  spirit  and  design  of  Christianity,  are  ex- 
ceedingly shut  up,  in  all  the  avenues  both  of 
their  heart  and  understanding,  against  the  pe- 
culiar teaching  of  the  gospel.  Like  the  hear- 
er3  of  Ezekiel,  they  feel  an  impression  of  mys- 
teriousness.  There  is  a  certain  want  of  adjust- 
ment between  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and 
the  prevaihng  style  of  their  conceptions.  All 
their  views  of  human  life,  and  all  the  lessons 
/  they  may  have  gathered  from  the  school  of  civil 


SERMON  II.  5lf 

or  classical  morality,  and  all  their  preferences 
for  what  they  count  the  clearness  and  the  ra- 
tionality of  legal  preaching,  and  all  the  predi- 
lections they  have  gotten  in  its  favour,  from 
the  most  familiar  analogies  in  human  society, 
— all  these,  coupled  with  their  utter  blindness 
to  the  magnitude  of  that  guilt  which  they  have 
incurred  under  the  judgment  of  a  spiritual  law, 
enter  as  so  many  elements  of  dislike  in  their 
hearts,  towards  the  whole  tone  and  character 
of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Christianity.  And 
they  go  to  envelop  the  subject  in  such  a  shroud 
of  mysticism  to  their  eyes,  that  many  of  the 
preachers  of  the  gospel  are,  by  them,  resisted 
on  the  same  plea  with  the  prophet  of  old,  to 
whom  his  contemptuous  countrymen  meant  to 
attach  the  ridicule  and  the  ignominy  of  a  pro- 
verb, when  they  said, — he  is  a  dealer  in  para- 
bles. 

We  mistake  the  matter,  if  we  think  that  the 
offence  of  the  cross  has  yet  ceased  from  the 
land.  We  mistake  it,  if  we  think  that  the  per- 
secution of  contempt,  a  species  of  persecution 
more  appalling  to  some  minds  than  even  direct 
and  personal  violence,  is  not  still  the  appointed 
trial  of  all  who  would  live  godly,  and  of  all 
who  would  expound  zealously  and  honestly 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  We 
utterly  mistake  it,  if  we  think  that  Christianity 
is  not  even  to  this  very  hour  the  same  very  pe- 
culiar thing  that  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  Apos- 


58  SERMON  E 

ties, — that  it  does  not  as  much  signalize  and 
separate  us  from  a  world  lying  in  wiekedness, 
— that  the  reproach  cast  upon  Paul,  that  he 
was  mad,  because  be  was  an  intrepid  follower 
of  Christ,  is  not  still  readj  to  be  preferred 
against  everj  faithful  teacher,  and  everj  con- 
sistent disciple  of  the  faith,— and  that.  Under 
the  terms  of  methodism,  and  fanaticism,  and 
mysticism,  there  is  not  ready  to  be  discharged 
Upon  them  from  the  thousand  batteries  of  a 
hostile  and  unbelieving  world,  as  abundant  a 
shower  of  invective  and  contumely  as  in  the 
first  ages. 

II.  Now,  if  there  be  any  hearers  present  who 
feel  that  we  have  spoken  to  them,  when  we 
spoke  of  the  resistance  which  is  held  out 
against  peculiar  Christianity,  on  the  ground  of 
that  mysteriousness  in  which  it  appears  to  be 
concealed  from  all  ordinary  discernment, — 
we  should  like  to  take  our  leave  of  them  at 
present  with  two  observations.  We  ask  them, 
in  the  first  place,  if  they  have  ever,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  their  own  minds,  disproved  the  Bible, 
—and  if  not,  we  ask  them  how  they  can  sit  at 
ease,  should  all  the  mysteriousness  which  they 
charge  upon  Evangelical  truth,  and  by  which 
they  would  attempt  to  justify  their  contempt  for 
it,  shall  be  found  to  attach  to  the  very  language, 
and  to  the  very  doctrine  of  God's  own  commu- 
nication ?    What  if  it  be  indeed  the  truth  of 


SERMON  II.  59 

God?  What  if  it  be  the  very  language  of  the 
offended  lawgiver  ?  What  if  they  be  the  only 
overtures  of  reconciliation,  upon  the  accept- 
ance of  which  a  sinner  can  come  nigh  unto 
him  ?  Now  he  actually  does  say  that  no  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  the  Son,— and 
that  his  is  the  only  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  men  can  be  saved, — and  that  he  will 
be  magnified  only  in  the  appointed  Mediator, 
—and  that  Christ  is  all  in  all,— and  that  there 
is  no  other  foundation  on  which  man  can  lay, 
and  that  he  who  believeth  on  him  shall  not  be 
confounded.  He  further  speaks  of  our  personal 
preparation  for  heaven — and  here,  too,  may  his 
utterance  sound  mysteriously  in  your  hearing, 
as  he  tells  that  without  holiness  no  man  can 
see  God,— and  that  we  are  without  strength 
while  we  are  without  the  Spirit  to  make  us  holy 
—and  that  unless  a  man  be  born  again  he  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God, — and  that 
he  should  wrestle  in  prayer  for  the  washing  of 
regeneration,— and  that  he  should  watch  for 
the  Holy  Ghost  with  all  perseverance,— and 
that  he  should  aspire  at  being  perfect  through 
Christ  strengthening  him,— and  that  he  should, 
under  the  operation  of  those  great  provisions 
which  are  set  up  in  the  New  Testament  for 
creating  us  anew  unto  good  works,  conform 
himself  unto  that  doctrine  of  grace  by  which  he 
is  brought  to  deny  ungodliness  and  worldly 
lusts,  and  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly 


60  SERMON  hi 

in  the  present  evil  world.  We  again  ask  thera, 
if  all  this  be  offensive  to  their  taste,  and  utterly 
revolting  to  their  habits  and  inclinations,  and 
if  they  turn  with  disgust  from  the  bitterness  of 
such  an  application,  and  can  behold  no  strength 
to  constrain  them  in  any  such  arguments,  and 
no  eloquence  to  admire  in  them.  With  what 
discernment  truly  is  your  case  taken  up  in  thi? 
very  Bible,  whose  phraseology  and  whose  doc- 
trine are  so  unpalatable  to  you,  when  it  tells 
us  of  the  preaching  of  the  cross  being  foolish- 
ness,— but  remember  that  it  says  it  is  foolish- 
ness to  those  who  perish ;  when  it  tells  of  the 
natural  man  not  receiving  of  the  things  of  the 
Spirit, — but  remember  that  it  says,  if  ye  have 
not  the  Spirit  of  God,  ye  are  none  of  his;  when 
it  tells  of  the  gospel  being  hid, — but  hid  ot 
them  who  are  lost :  "  In  whom  the  God  of  this 
world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  those  which 
believe  not,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God,  should 
shine  unto  them." 

Secondly,  let  us  assure  the  men,  who  at  this 
moment  bid  the  stoutest  defiance  to  the  mes- 
sage of  the  gospel, — the  men  whose  natural 
taste  appears  to  offer  an  invincible  barrier 
against  the  reception  of  its  truths, — the  men 
who,  upon  the  plea  of  mysteriousness,  or  the 
plea  of  fanaticism,  or  the  plea  of  excessive 
and  unintelligible  peculiarity,  are  most  ready 
to  repudiate  the  whole  style  and  doctrine  of 


SERMON  IT,  61 

the  New  Testament, — let  us  assure  them  that 
the  time  may  yet  come,  v^hen  they  shall  ren- 
der to  this  very  gospel  the  most  striking  of  all 
acknowledgments,  even  by  sending  to  the  door 
of  its  most  faithful  ministers,  and  humbly  cra- 
ving from  them  their  explanations  and  their 
prayers.  It  indeed  offers  an  affecting  contrast 
to  all  the  glory  of  earthly  prospects,  and  to  all 
the  vigour  of  confident  and  rejoicing  health, 
and  to  all  the  activity  and  enterprise  of  busi- 
ness, when  the  man  who  made  the  world  his 
theatre,  and  felt  his  mountain  to  stand  strong 
on  the  fleeting  foundation  of  its  enjoyments 
and  its  concerns, — when  he  comes  to  be  bowed 
down  with  infirmity,  or  receives  from  the  trou- 
ble within,  the  solemn  intimation  that  death 
is  now  looking  to  him  in  good  earnest :  When 
such  a  man  takes  him  to  the  bed  of  sickness, 
and  he  knows  it  to  be  a  sickness  unto  death, 
—when,  under  all  the  weight  of  breathlessness 
and  pain,  he  listens  to  the  man  of  God,  as  he 
points  the  way  that  leadeth  to  eternity, — what, 
I  would  ask,  is  the  kind  of  gospel  that  is  most 
fitted  to  charm  the  sense  of  guilt  and  the  anti- 
cipations of  vengeance  away  from  him?  S^ure 
we  are,  that  we  never  in  these  affecting  circum- 
stances— through  which  you  have  all  to  pass — 
we  never  saw  the  man  who  could  maintain  a 
stability,  and  a  hope,  from  the  sense  of  his  own 
righteousness ;  but  who,  if  leaning  on  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  could  mix  .a  peace  and  an 


62  SERMOiN  11. 

elevation  with  his  severest  agonies.  We  never 
saw  the  expiring  mortal  who  could  look  with 
an  undaunted  eye  on  God  as  his  lawgiver;  but 
often  has  all  its  languor  been  lighted  up  with 
joy  at  the  name  of  Christ  as  his  Saviour.  We 
never  saw  the  dying  acquaintance,  who,  upon 
the  retrospect  of  his  virtues  and  of  his  doings, 
/  could  prop  the  tranquillity  of  his  spirit  on  the 
expectation  of  a  legal  reward.  O  no!  this  is 
not  the  element  which  sustains  the  tranquillity 
of  death  beds.  It  is  the  hope  of  forgiveness. 
It  is  a  believing  sense  of  the  efficacy  of  the 
atonement.  It  is  the  prayer  of  faith,  offered 
up  in  the  name  of  him  who  is  the  Captain  of  all 
our  salvation.  It  is  a  dependence  on  that  power 
which  can  alone  impart  a  meetness  for  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints,  and  present  the  spirit 
holy,  and  unreproveable,  and  unblameable,  in 
the  sight  of  God. 

Now,  what  we  have  to  urge  is,  that  if  these 
be  the  topics,  which,  on  the  last  half  hour  of 
your  life,  are  the  only  ones  that  will  possess,  in 
your  judgment,  any  value  or  substantial  import* 
ance,  why  put  them  away  from  you  now.'^  You 
will  recur  to  them  then,  and  for  what.^  that 
you  may  get  the  forgiveness  of  your  sins.  But 
there  is  a  something  else  you  must  get,  ere  you 
can  obtain  an  entrance  into  peace  or  glory. 
You  must  get  the  renovation  of  that  nature, 
which  is  so  deeply  tainted  at  this  moment 
with  the  guik  of  ingratitude  and  forgetfulneai 


SERMOM  a.  63 

towards  God.  This  must  be  gone  through  ere 
you  die;  and  say  if  a  change  so  mighty  should 
be  wantonly  postponed  to  the  hour  of  dying? — 
when  all  your  refusals  of  the  gospel  have  har- 
dened and  darkened  the  mind  against  it;  when 
a  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  then,  is  surely 
not  to  be  counted  on,  as  the  return  that  you 
will  experience  for  resisting  all  his  intimations 
now;  when  the  effects  of  the  alienation  of  a 
whole  life,  both  in  extinguishing  the  light  of 
your  conscience,  and  in  riveting  your  distaste 
for  holiness,  will  be  accumulated  into  such  abar- 
rier  in  the  way  of  your  return  to  God,  as  stamps 
upon  death-bed  conversions,  a  grievous  unlike- 
lihood, and  should  give  an  imperious  force  to 
the  call  of  "  To-day,  while  it  is  called  to-day, 
harden  not  your  hearts,  Seeing  that  now  is  your 
accepted  time,  and  now  is  your  day  of  salva- 
tion." 


SERMON  III. 


THE  PREPARATION  NECESSARY  FOR    UNDERSTANDING 
THE  MYSTERIES  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


Matthew  xiii.  11,  12. 

•  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Because  it  is  giv^ii 
unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven, but  to  them  it  is  not  given.  For  whosoever  hath, 
to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  mo? e  abundance  ; 
but  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  he  hath." 

It  is  of  importance  to  mark  the  principle  of 
distribution  on  which  it  is  given  to  some  to  know 
tlie  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  it 
is  not  given  to  others.  Both  may  at  the  outset 
be  equally  destitute  of  a  clear  understanding 
of  these  mysteries.  But  the  former  may  have 
what  the  latter  have  not.  With  the  former 
there  may  be  a  desire  for  explanation ;  with 
the  latter  there  may  be  no  such  desire.  The 
former  may,  in  the  earnest  prosecution  of  this 
desire,  be  praying  earnestly,  and  reading  dili- 
gently, and  striving  laboriously,  to  do  all  that 
they  know  to  be  the  will  of  God.     With  the 


SERMON  III.  65 

latter,  there  may  be  neither  the  habit  of  prayer, 
nor  the  habit  of  inquiry,  nor  the  habit  of  obe- 
dience. To  the  one  class  will  be  given  what 
they  have  not.  From  the  other  class  what  they 
have  shall  be  taken  away.  We  have  already 
attempted  to  excite  in  the  latter  class  a  re- 
spectful attention  to  the  truths  of  the  gospel, 
and  shall  now  confine  ourselves  chiefly  to  the 
object  of  encouraging  and  directing  those  who 
feel  the  mysteriousness  of  these  truths,  and  long 
for  light  to  arise  in  the  midst  of  it ; — shall  ad- 
dress ourselves  to  those  who  have  an  honest 
anxiety  after  that  truth  which  is  unto  salvation, 
but  find  the  way  to  it  beset  with  many  doubts 
and'  many  perplexities, — to  those  who  are  im- 
pressed with  a  general  conviction  on  the  side 
of  Scripture,  but  in  whose  eyes  a  darkness  im- 
penetrable still  broods  over  its  pages, — to  those 
who  are  haunted  by  a  sense  of  the  imperious 
necessity  of  religion,  and  at  the  same  time  can- 
not escape  from  the  impression,  that  if  it  is  any 
where  to  be  found,  it  is  to  be  found  within  the 
records  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  but 
from  whose  heart  in  the  reading  of  these  re- 
cords the  veil  still  remains  untaken  away. 

In  the  further  prosecution  of  this  discourse, 
let  us  attempt,  in  the  first  place,  to  explain 
what  it  is  that  we  ought  to  have,  in  order  to 
attain  an  understanding  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
gospel ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  how  it  is  that 
in  many  cases   these   mysteries  are  evolved 

9 


66  SERMON  III. 

upon  the  mind  in  a  clear  and  convincing  mani- 
festation. 

I.  First,  then,  we  ought  to  have  an  honest 
desire  after  hght,  and  if  we  have  this  desire,  it 
will  not  remain  unproductive.  There  is  a  con- 
nexion repeatedly  announced  to  us  in  Scrip- 
ture between  desire  upon  this  subject,  and  its 
accomplishment.  He  that  willeth  to  do  the 
will  of  God  shall  know  of  my  doctrine.  He 
who  hungereth  and  thirsteth  shall  be  filled.' 
He  who  lacketh  wisdom  and  is  desirous  of  ob- 
taining it,  let  him  vent  his  desire  in  prayer, — 
and  if  it  be  the  prayer  of  confidence  in  God, 
his  desire  shall  be  given  him.  There  are  thou- 
sands to  whom  the  Bible  is  a  sealed  book,  and 
who  are  satisfied  that  it  should  remain  so,  who 
share  in  the  impetuous  contempt  of  the  Phari- 
sees against  a  doctrine  to  which  they  are  alto- 
gether blind,  who  have  no  understanding  of  the 
matter,  and  no  wish  that  it  should  be  other- 
wise,— and  unto  them  it  will  not  be  given  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
They  have  not,  and  from  them  therefore  shall 
be  taken  away  even  that  which  they  have. 
There  are  others,  again,  who  have  an  ardent 
and  unquenchable  thirst  after  the  mysteries  of 
the  gospel ;  who,  like  the  prophet  in  the  Apo- 
calypse, weep  much  because  the  book  is  not 
opened  to  them;  who  complain  of  darkness, 
like  the  Apostles  of  old  when  they  expostulated 


SERMON  m.  67 

with  their  Teacher  because  he  spoke  in  paya- 
bles, and,  like  them,  who  go  to  him  with  their 
requests  for  an  explanation.  These  shall  find 
that  what  they  cannot  do  for  themselves,  the 
Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  will  do  for  them. 
He  will  prevail  to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose 
the  seals  thereof  There  is  something  they 
already  have,  even  an  honest  wish  to  be  illu- 
minated, and  to  this  more  will  be  given.  They 
are  a^ake  to  the  desirableness,  they  are 
awake  to  the  necessity  of  a  revelation,  which 
they  have  not  yet  gotten, — and  to  them  be- 
longs the  promise  of,  Awake,  O  sinner,  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light. 

Secondly,  We  ought  to  have  a  habit  of  pray- 
er conjoined  with  a  habit  of  inquiry;  and  to 
this  more  will  be  given.  We  have  already  ad- 
verted to  the  circumstance,  that  it  is  in  the 
Bible,  and  not  out  of  the  Bible,  where  this 
light  is  to  be  met  with.  It  is  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  shining  upon  the  word  of  God,  that  his 
truth  is  reflected  with  clearness  upon  the  soul. 
It  is  by  his  operation  that  the  characters  of 
this  book  are  made  to  stand  as  visibly  out  to 
the  eye  of  the  understanding,  as  they  do  to  the 
eye  of  the  body-  ^  id  therefore  it  is  evident 
that  it  is  not  in  the  act  ci  looking  away  from 
the  written  revelation,  but  in  the  act  of  looking 
towards  it,  that  the  wished-for  illumination 
will  at  length  come  into  the  mind  of  an  in- 
quirer.    Let  your  present  condition  then  b^ 


68  SERMON  lU. 

that  of  a  darkness  as  helpless  and  as  unattain- 
able as  can  possibly  be  imagined,  there  still 
remains  an  obvious  and  practicable  direction 
which  you  can  be  doing  with  in  the  mean  time. 
You  can  persevere  in  the  exercise  of  reading 
your  Bible.  There  you  are  at  the  place  of 
meeting  between  the  Spirit  of  God  and  your 
own  spirit.  You  may  have  to  wait,  as  if  at  the 
pool  of  Siloam ;  but  the  many  calls  of  the  Bi- 
ble to  wait  upon  God,  to  wait  upon  him  with 
patience,  to  wait  and  to  be  of  good  courage, 
all  prove  that  this  waiting  is  a  frequent  and  a 
familiar  part  of  that  process  by  which  a  sinner 
finds  his  way  out  of  darkness  into  the  marvel- 
lous light  of  the  gospel. 

And  we  have  also  adverted  already,  though 
in  a  very  general  way,  to  the  difference  in  point 
of  result  between  the  active  inquiries  of  a  man 
who  looks  forward  to  the  acquisition  of  saving 
truth  as  the  natural  and  necessary  termination 
of  his  inquiries,  and  of  a  man  who  mingles  with 
every  personal  attempt  after  this  object,  the 
exercise  of  prayer,  and  a  reverential  sense  of 
his  dependence  on  God.  The  latter  is  just  as 
active,  and  just  as  inquisitive  as  the  former. 
The  difference  between  them  does  not  lie  in 
the  one  putting  forth  diligence  without  a  feel- 
ing of  dependence,  and  the  other  feeling  de- 
pendence, without  a  putting  forth  of  diligence 
He  who  is  in  the  right  path  towards  the  attain- 
ment of  light,  combines  both  these  properties. 


SERMON  llf.  69 

ft  is  through  the  avenues  of  a  desirous  heart, 
and  of  an  exercised  understanding,  and  of  sus- 
tained attention,  and  of  faculties  in  quest  of 
truth,  and  labouring  after  the  possession  of  it, 
that  God  send^  into  the  mind  his  promised 
manifestations.  All  this  exercise  on  the  one 
hand,  without  such  an  acknowledgment  of  him 
as  leads  to  prayer,  will  be  productive  of  no- 
thing in  the  way  of  spiritual  discernment.  And 
prayer,  without  this  exercise,  is  the  mere  form 
and  mockery  of  an  acknowledgment.  He  who 
calls  upon  us  to  hearken  diligently,  when  he 
addresses  us  by  a  living  voice,  does  in  effect 
call  upon  us  to  read  and  to  ponder  diligently 
when  he  addresses  us  by  a  written  message. 
To  ask  truth  of  God,  while  we  neglect  to  do 
for  this  object  what  he  bids  us,  is  in  fact  not 
to  recognise  God,  but  to  insult  him.  It  is  to 
hold  out  the  appearance  of  presenting  our- 
selves before  him,  while  we  are  not  doing  it  at 
the  place  of  meeting,  which  he  has  assigned 
for  us.  It  is  to  address  an  imaginary  Being, 
whom  we  have  invested  with  a  character  of 
our  own  conception,  and  not  the  Being  who 
bids  us  search  his  Scriptures,  and  incline  unto 
his  testimonies,  and  stir  ourselves  up  that  we 
may  lay  hold  of  him.  Such  prayer  is  utterance, 
and  nothing  more.  It  wants  all  the  substan- 
tial characters  of  prayer.  It  may  amount  to 
the  seeking  of  those  who  shall  not  be  able  to 
enter  the  strait  gate.     It  falls  short  of  the 


70  SERMON  III. 

striving  of  those  who  take  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven by  force,  and  of  whom  that  kingdom  suf- 
fereth  violence. 

He  who  without  prayer  looks  confidently  for- 
ward to  success  as  the  fruit  of  hisow^n  investi- 
gations, is  not  walking  humbly  with  God.  If 
he  were  humble  he  would  pray.  But  whether 
is  he  the  more  humble  who  joins  with  a  habit 
of  prayer,  all  those  accompanying  circum- 
stances which  God  hath  prescribed,  or  he  who, 
in  neglect  of  these  circumstances,  ventures 
himself  into  his  presence  in  the  language  of 
supplication  ?  There  may  be  the  show  of  hu- 
mility in  confiding  the  whole  cause  of  our  spi- 
ritual and  saving  illumination  to  the  habit  of 
praying  for  it  to  God.  But  if  God  himself  tell 
us,  that  we  must  read,  and  seek,  and  meditate, 
then  it  is  no  longer  humility  to  keep  by  the 
solitary  exercise  of  praying.  It  is  in  fact,  keep- 
ing pertinaciously  by  our  own  way,  heedless 
of  his  will  and  his  way  altogether.  It  is  ap- 
proaching God  in  the  pride  of  our  own  under- 
standing. It  is  detaching  from  the  whole  work 
of  seeking  after  him  some  of  those  component 
parts  which  he  himself  hath  recommended.  In 
the  very  act  of  making  prayer  stand  singly  out 
as  the  alone  instrument  of  success,  we  are  in  fact 
drawing  the  life  and  the  spirit  out  of  prayer 
itself;  and  causing  it  to  wither  into  a  thing  of 
no  power  and  no  significancy  in  the  sight  of 
God.    It  is  not  the  prayer  of  acknowledgment, 


SERMON  III.  71 

unless  it  comes  from  him  who  acknowledges 
the  will  of  God  in  other  things  as  well  as  in 
prayer.  It  is  not  the  prayer  of  submission  un- 
less it  comes  from  the  heart  of  a  man  who 
manifests  a  principle  of  submission  in  all 
things. 

Thirdly,  We  ought  to  do  all  that  we  know 
to  be  God's  will,  and  to  this  habit  of  humble 
earnest  desirous  reformation  more  will  be 
given. 

We  trust  that  what  has  been  said  will  pre- 
pare you  for  the  reception  of  another  advice 
besides  that  of  reading  or  praying  for  the  at- 
tainment of  that  manifestation  which  you  are 
in  quest  of, — and  that  is,  doing.  There  is  an 
alarm  raised  in  many  a  heart  at  the  very  sug- 
gestion of  doing  for  an  inquirer,  lest  he  should 
be  misled  as  to  the  ground  of  his  jus4;ification  ; 
lest  among  the  multitude  or  the  activity  of  his 
works,  he  should  miss  the  truth,  that  a  man  is 
accepted,  not  through  the  works  of  the  law, 
but  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  lest  by  every  one 
performance  of  duty,  he  should  just  be  adding 
another  stone  to  the  fabric  of  a  delusive  confi- 
dence, and  presumptuously  try  to  force  his  own 
way  to  heaven,  without  the  rocognition  of  the 
gospel  or  any  of  its  peculiarities.  Now,  doing 
stands  precisely  in  the  same  relation  to  prayer 
that  reading  does.  Without  the  one  or  the 
other  it  is  the  prayer  either  of  presumption  or 
hypocrisy.     If  he  both  read  and  pray,  it  is  far 


72  SERMON  III. 

more  likeJj  that  he  will  be  brought  unto  the 
condition  of  a  man  being  justified  through  faith 
in  Christ,  than  that  he  will  rest  hi&  hopes  be- 
fore God  in  the  mere  exercise  of  reading.  If 
he  both  do  and  pray,  it  is  far  more  likely  that 
he  will  come  to  be  established  in  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  as  the  foundation  of  all  his 
trust,  than  that  he  will  rest  upon  his  own  right- 
eousness. For  a  man  to  give  up  sin  at  the 
outset,  is  just  to  do  what  God  wills  him  at  the 
outset.  For  a  man  at  the  commencement  of 
his  inquiries,  to  be  strenuous  in  the  relinquish- 
ment of  all  that  he  knows  to  be  evil,  is  just  to 
enter  on  the  path  of  approach  towards  Chri-st, 
in  the  very  way  that  Christ  desires  him.  He 
who  Cometh  unto  me  must  forsake  all.  For  a 
man  to  put  forth  an  immediate  hand  to  the  do- 
ing of  the  commandments,  while  he  is  groping 
his  way  towards  a  firm  basis  on  which  he  might 
rear  his  security  before  God,  is  not  to  deviate 
or  diverge  from  the  Saviour.  He  may  do  it 
with  an  eye  of  most  intense  earnestness  to- 
wards the  Saviour, — and  while  the  artificial 
interpreter  of  Christ's  doctrine  holds  him  to  be 
wrong,  Christ  himself  may  recognise  him  to  be 
one  of  those  who  keep  his  sayings,  and  to  whom 
therefore  he  stands  pledged  to  manifest  him- 
self. The  man  in  fact  by  strenuously  doing,  is 
just  the  more  significantly  and  the  more  ener- 
getically praying.  He  is  adding  one  ingre- 
dient to  the  business  of  seeking,  without  which 


SERMON  in.  7* 

the  other  ingredient  would  be  in  God's  sight 
an  abomination.  He  is  struggling  against  all 
regard  to  iniquity  in  his  heart,  seeing  that  if 
he  have  this  regard  God  will  not  hear  him. 
To  say,  that  it  is  dangerous  to  tell  a  man  in 
these  circumstances  to  do,  lest  he  rest  in  his 
doings  and  fall  short  of  the  Saviour,  is  to  say, 
that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  place  a  man  on 
the  road  to  his  wished-for  home,  lest  when  he 
has  got  upon  the  road,  he  should  stand  still 
and  be  satisfied.  The  more,  in  fact,  that  the 
man's  conscience  is  exercised  and  enlightened 
(and  what  more  fitted  than  wilful  sin  to  deafen 
the  voice  of  conscience  altogether  ?)  the  less  will 
it  let  him  alone,  and  the  more  will  it  urge  him 
onward  to  that  righteousness  which  is  the  only 
one  commensurate  to  God's  law,  and  in  which 
alone  the  holy  and  inflexible  God  can  look  upon 
him  with  complacency.  Let  him  humbly  betake 
himself,  then,  to  the  prescribed  path  of  reading, 
and  prayer,  and  obvious  reformation, — and  let 
us  see  if  there  do  not  evolve  upon  his  mind, 
in  the  prosecution  of  it,  the  worthlessness  of  all 
that  man  can  do  for  his  meritorious  acceptance 
with  the  Lawgiver — and  the  deep  ungodliness 
of  character  which  adheres  to  him — and  the  suit- 
ableness of  Christ's  atonement  to  all  his  felt  ne- 
cessities, and  all  his  moral  aspirations — and  the 
need  in  which  he  stands  of  a  regenerating  in- 
fluence, to  make  him  a  willing  and  a  spiritual 
subject  of  God.     Let  us  see  whether,  though 

10 


74  SERMON  III. 

the  light  which  he  at  length  receives  be  mar- 
vellous, the  waj  is  not  plain  which  leads  to  it; 
and  whether  though  nature  be  compassed 
about  with  a  darkness  which  no  power  of  nature 
can  dissipate, — there  is  not  a  clear  and  obvious 
procedure,  by  the  steps  of  which  the  most 
alienated  of  her  children  may  be  carried  on- 
wards to  all  the  manifestations  of  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  and  to  the  discernment  of  all  its 
iQysteries. 

Though,  to  the  natural  eye,  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  be  not  plain,  the  way  is  plain  by 
w  hich  we  arrive  at  it.  Though,  ere  we  see  the 
things  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  must  take  of  them 
and  show  them  unto  us, — yet  this  Spirit  deals 
out  such  admonitions  to  all,  that,  if  we  follow 
them,  he  will  not  cease  to  enlarge,  and  to 
extend  his  teaching,  till  we  have  obtained  a 
saving  illumination.  He  is  given  to  those  who 
obey  him.  He  abandons  those  who  resist  him. 
When  conscience  tells  us  to  read,  and  to  pray, 
and  to  reform,  it  is  he  who  is  prompting  this 
faculty.  It  is  he  who  is  sending  through  this 
organ,  the  whispers  of  his  own  voice  to  the  ear 
of  the  inner  man.  If  we  go  along  with  the 
movement,  he  will  follow  it  up  by  other  move- 
ments. He  will  visit  him  who  is  the  willing 
subject  of  his  first  influences  by  higher  demon- 
strations. He  will  carry  forward  his  own  work 
in  the  heart  of  that  man,  who,  while  acting  up- 
on the  suggestions  of  his  own  moral  sense,  is  in 


SERMON  III.  75 

fact  acting  in  conformity  to  the  warnings  of  this 
kind  and  faithful  monitor.  So  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  connect  his  very  first  impulses  on  the 
mind  of  that  inquirer,  who  under  the  reign  of 
earnestness,  has  set  himself  to  read  his  Bible, 
and  to  knock  with  importunity  at  the  door  of 
heaven,  and  to  forsake  the  evil  of  his  ways,  and 
to  turn  him  to  the  practice  of  all  that  he  knows 
to  be  right, — the  Spirit  will  connect  these  inci- 
pient measures  of  a  seeker  after  Zion,  with  the 
acquirement  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the 
knowledge  of  Christ. 

Let  it  not  be  said,  then,  that  because  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ  is  shrouded  in  mystery  to  the 
general  eye  of  the  world,  it  is  such  a  mystery  as 
renders  it  inaccessible  to  the  men  of  the  world. 
Even  to  them  does  the  trumpet  of  invitation 
blow  a  certain  sound.  They  may  not  yet  see 
the  arcana  of  the  temple,  but  they  may  see  the 
road  which  leads  to  the  temple.  If  they  are 
never  to  obtain  admission  there,  it  is  not  be- 
cause they  cannot,  but  because  they  will  not, 
come  to  it.  "  Ye  will  not  come  to  me,"  says  the 
Saviour, "  that  ye  might  have  life."  Reading,  and 
prayer,  and  reformation,  these  are  all  obvious 
things ;  and  it  is  the  neglect  of  these  obvious 
things  which  involves  them  in  the  guilt  and  the 
ruin  of  those  who  neglect  the  great  salvation. 
This  salvation  is  to  be  found  of  those  who  seek 
after  it.  The  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  is  life  everlasting,  is  a  knowledge 


76  SERMON  III. 

open  and  acquirable  to  all.  And,  on  the  day  of 
judgment,  th^re  will  not  be  found  a  single  in- 
stance of  a  man  condemned  because  of  unbe- 
lief, who  sought  to  the  uttermost  of  his  oppor- 
tunities ,'  and  evinced  the  earnestness  of  his  de- 
sire after  peace  with  God,  by  doing  all  that  he 
might  have  done,  and  by  being  all  that  he 
might  have  been] 

Be  assured,  then,  that  it  will  be  for  want  oi 
seeking,  if  you  do  not  find.  It  will  be  for  want 
of  learning,  if  you  are  not  taught.  It  will  be  for 
want  of  obedience  to  the  movements  of  your  own 
conscience,  if  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  prompts  and 
who  stimulates  the  conscience  to  all  its  move- 
ments, be  not  poured  upon  you,  in  one  large 
and  convincing  manifestation.  It  may  still  be 
the  day  of  small  things  with  you — a  day  des- 
pised by  the  accomplished  adepts  of  a  syste- 
matic and  articled  theology.  But  God  will 
not  despise  it.  He  will  not  leave  your  long- 
ings for  ever  unsatisfied.  He  will  not  keep 
you  standing  always  at  the  threshold  of  vain 
desires  and  abortive  endeavours.  That  faith, 
which  is  the  gift  of  God,  you  have  already  at- 
tained in  a  degree,  if  you  have  obtained  a  ge- 
neral conviction  of  the  importance  and  reality 
of  the  whole  matter.  He  will  increase  that 
faith.  Act  up  to  the  light  that  you  have  gotten 
by  reading  earnestly,  and  praying  importunate- 
ly, and  striving  laboriously, — and  to  you  more 
will  be  given.     You  will  at  length   obtain  a 


SERMON  III.  n 

clear  and  satisfying  impression  of  the  things  of 
God,  and  the  things  of  salvation.  Christ  will 
be  recognised  in  all  his  power  and  in  all  his  pre- 
ciousness.  You  will  know  what  it  is  to  be  esta- 
blished upon  him.  The  natural  legality  of  your 
hearts  will  give  way  to  the  pure  doctrine  of  ac- 
ceptance with  God,  through  faith  in  the  blood  of 
a  crucified  Saviour.  The  sanctifying  influence 
of  such  a  faith  will  not  merely  be  talked  of 
in  word,  but  be  experienced  in  power ;  and 
you  will  evince  that  you  are  God's  workman- 
ship in  Christ  Jesus,  by  your  abounding  in  all 
those  fruits  of  righteousness  which  are  through 
him,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  the  Father. 

II.  We  shall  now  attempt  to  explain,  how  it 
is  that  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel  are,  in  many 
Cases,  evolved  upon  the  mind  in  a  clear  and 
convincing  manifestation. 

And  here  let  it  be  distinctly  understood, 
that  the  way  in  many  cases  may  be  very  far 
from  the  way  in  all  cases.  The  experience  of 
converts  is  exceedingly  various, — nor  do  we 
know  a  more  frequent,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
more  groundless  cause  of  anxiety,  than  that  by 
which  the  mind  of  an  inquirer  is  often  harassed, 
when  he  attempts  to  realize  the  very  process 
by  which  another  has  been  called  out  of  dark- 
ness to  the  marvellous  light  of  the  gospel. 

Referring,  then,  to  those  grounds  of  mysteri- 
ousness  which  we  have  already  specified  in  a 


7a  SERMON  HI. 

former  discourse, — God  may  so  manifest  himself 
to  the  mind  of  an  inquirer,  as  to  convince  him, 
that  all  those  analogies  of  common  life  which 
are  taken  from  the  relation  of  a  servant  to  his 
master,  or  of  a  son  to  his  father,  or  of  a  subject 
to  his  sovereign,  utterly  fail  in  the  case  of  man, 
as  he  is  by  nature,  in  relation  to  his  God.  A 
servant  may  discharge  all  his  obligations;  a 
son  may  acquit  himself  of  all  his  duties,  or  may^ 
with  his  occasional  failures,  and  his  occasional 
chastisements,  still  keep  his  place  in  the  instinc- 
tive affection  of  his  parents ;  and  a  subject  may, 
persevere  in  unseduced  loyalty  to  the  earthly  go- 
vernment under  which  he  lives.  But  the  glaring 
and  the  demonstrable  fact  with  regard  to  man, 
viewed  as  a  creature,  is,  that  the  habit  of  his  heart 
is  one  continued  habit  of  dislike  and  resistance 
to  the  Creator  who  gave  him  birth.  The  earth- 
ly master  may  have  all  those  services  rendered 
to  which  he  has  a  right,  and  so  be  satisfied. 
The  earthly  father  may  have  all  the  devoted- 
ness,  and  all  the  attachment,  from  his  family, 
which  he  can  desire,  and  so  be  satisfied.  The 
earthly  sovereign  may  have  all  that  allegiance 
from  a  loyal  subject,  who  pays  his  taxes,  and 
never  transgresses  his  laws,  which  he  expects  or 
cares  for,  and  so  be  satisfied.  But  go  upward  from 
them  to  the  God  who  made  us, — to  the  God  who 
keeps  us, — to  the  God  in  whom  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being, — to  the  God  whose 
care  and  whose  presence  are  ever  surrounding 


SERMON  III.  79 

as,  who,  from  morning  to  night,  and  from 
night  to  morning,  watches  over  us,  and  tends 
us  while  we  sleep,  and  guides  us  in  our  waking 
moments,  and  follows  us  to  the  business  of  the 
world,  and  brings  us  back  in  safety  to  our 
homes,  and  never  for  a  single  instant  of  time 
withdraws  from  us  the  superintendence  of  an 
eye  that  never  slumbers,  and  of  a  hand  that  is 
never  weary.  Now,  all  we  require  is  a  fair  esti- 
mate of  the  claims  of  such  a  God.  Does  he 
ask  too  much,  when  he  asks  the  affections  of  a 
heart  that  receives  its  every  beat,  and  its  every 
movement,  from  the  impulse  of  his  power  ?  Does 
he  ask  too  much,  when  he  asks  the  devoted- 
ness  of  a  life,  which  owes  its  every  hour  and  its 
every  moment  to  him,  whose  right  hand  pre- 
serves us  continually  ?  Has  he  no  right  to  com- 
plain, when  he  knocks  at  the  door  of  our  hearts, 
and,  trying  to  possess  himself  of  the  love  tind 
the  confidence  of  his  own  creatures,  he  finds 
that  all  their  thoughts,  and  all  their  pursuits, 
and  all  their  likings,  are  utterly  away  from  him? 
Is  there  no  truth,  and  no  justice,  in  the  charge 
which  he  prefers  against  us, — when  surrounded 
as  we  are  by  the  gifts  of  nature  and  of  provi- 
dence, all  of  which  are  his,  the  giver  is  mean- 
while forgotten,  and,  amid  the  enjoyments  of 
his  bounty,  we  live  without  him  in  the  world. 
If  it  indeed  be  true,  that  itis  his  sun  which  lights 
us  on  our  path,  and  his  earth  on  which  we  tread 
so  firmly,  and  his  air  which  circulates  a  fresh- 


80  SERMON  HI. 

ness  around  our  dwellings,  and  his  rain  which 
feeds  all  the  luxuriance  that  is  spread  around 
us,  and  drops  upon  every  field  the  smiling  pro- 
mise of  abundance  for  the  wants  of  his  depend- 
ent children, — if  all  this  be  true,  can  it  at 
the  same  time  be  right,  that  this  all-providing 
God  should  have  so  little  a  place  in  our  remem- 
brance ?  that  the  whole  man  should  be  other- 
wise engaged,  than  with  a  sense  of  him,  and  the 
habitual  exercise  of  acknowledgment  to  him  ?^ 
that  in  fact  the  full  play  of  his  re2:ards  should 
be  expended  on  the  things  which  are  formed^ 
and  through  the  whole  system  of  his  conduct 
and  his  affairs,  there  should  be  so  utter  a  neglect 
of  him  who  formed  them  ?  Surely  if  this  be  the 
true  description  of  man,  and  the  character  of 
his  heart  in  reierence  to  God,  then  it  is  a  case 
of  too  peculiar  a  nature  to  be  illustrated  by  any 
of  the  analogies  of  human  society.  It  must  be 
taken  up  on  its  own  grounds ;  and  should  the  in- 
jured and  offended  Lawgiver  offer  to  make  it 
the  subject  of  any  communication,  it  is  our  part 
humbly  to  listen  and  implicitly  to  follow  it. 

And  here  it  is  granted,  that  amongst  the  men 
who  are  utter  strangers  to  this  communica- 
tion, you  meet  with  the  better  and  the  worse ; 
and  that  there  is  an  obvious  line  of  distinction 
which  marks  off  the  base  and  the  worthless 
amongst  them,  from  those  of  them  who  are  the 
valuable  and  the  accomplished  members  of  so- 
ciety.    And  yet  do  we  aver,  that  one  may  step 


SERMON  III.  81 

over  that  line  and  not  be  nearer  than  he  was  to 
God, — that,  between  the  men  on  either  side  of 
it,  and  Him  who  created  them,  there  lies  an  un- 
trodden gulf  of  separation, — that,  with  all  the 
justice  which  rules  their  transactions,  and  all 
the  honour  which  animates  their  bosoms,  and 
all  the  compassion  which  warms  their  hearts, 
and  streams  forth  either  in  tears  of  pity,  or  in 
acts  of  kindness,  upon  the  miserable, — with  all 
these  virtues  which  they  do  have,  and  which 
serve  both  to  bless  and  to  adorn  the  condition 
of  humanity,  there  is  one  virtue,  which,  prior 
to  the  reception  and  the  influence  of  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  they  most  assuredly  do  not  have, 
— they  are  utterly  devoid  of  godliness.  They 
have  no  desire,  and  no  inclination  towards  God. 
There  may  be  the  dread  of  him,  and  the  occa- 
sional remembrance  of  him;  but  there  is  no  af- 
fection for  him.  This  is  the  charge  which  we 
carry  round  amongst  all  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  Adam,  who  have  not  submitted  themselves  to 
the  only  name  that  is  given  under  heaven  where- 
by men  can  be  saved.  We  are  not  denying  that 
the  persons  of  some  of  them  are  dignified  by 
the  more  respectable  attributes  of  character; 
and  that,  from  the  persons  of  others  of  them, 
there  are  beauteously  reflected  the  more  amia- 
ble and  endearing  attributes  of  character.  But 
we  aflirm,  that  with  all  these  random  varieties 
of  moral  exhibition  which  are  to  be  found — the 
principle  of  loyalty  to  God  has  lost  the  hold  of  a 
11 


82  SERMON  III. 

presiding  influence  over  all  the  children  of  our 
degraded  and  undone  nature.  We  ask  you  to 
collect  all  the  scattered  remnants  of  what  is 
great,  and  of  what  is  graceful  in  accomplish- 
ments that  may  have  survived  the  fall  of  our 
first  parents ;  and  we  pronounce,  of  the  whole 
assemblage,  that  they  go  not  to  alleviate,  by 
one  iota,  the  burden  of  that  controversy  which 
lies  between  God  and  their  posterity, — that 
throughout  all  the  ranks  and  diversities  of  cha- 
racter which  prevail  in  the  world,  there  is  one  per- 
vading affection  of  enmity  to  him ;  that  the  man 
of  talents  forgets  that  he  has  nothing  which  he 
did  not  receive,  and  so,  courting,  by  some  lofty 
enterprise  of  mind,  the  gaze  of  this  world's  ad- 
miration, he  renounces  his  God,  and  makes  an 
idol  of  his  fame, — that  the  man  of  ambition  feels 
not  how  subordinate  he  is  to  the  might  and  the 
majesty  of  his  Creator,  but  turning  away  all 
his  reverence  from  him,  falls  down  to  the  idol  of 
power, — that  the  man  of  avarice  withdraws  all 
his  trust  from  the  living  God,  and,  embarking 
all  his  desire  in  the  pursuit  of  riches,  and  all 
his  security  in  the  possession  of  them,  he  makes 
an  idol  of  wealth, — that,  descending  from  these 
to  the  average  and  the  every-day  members  of 
our  world's  population,  we  see  each  walking 
after  the  counsel  of  his  own  heart,  and  in  the 
sight  of  his  own  eyes,  with  every  wish  directed 
to  the  objects  of  time,  and  every  hope  bounded 
by  its  anticipations:  And,  amid  all  the  love  they 


SERMON  III.  83 

bear  to  their  families,  and  all  the  diligence  they 
give  to  their  business,  and  all  the  homage  of 
praise  and  attachment  they  obtain  from  their 
friends,  are  they  so  surrounded  by  the  influ- 
ences of  what  is  seen  and  what  is  sensible,  that 
the  invisible  God  is  scarcely  ever  thought  of, 
and  his  character  not  at  all  dwelt  on  with  de- 
light, and  his  will  never  admitted  to  an  habi- 
tual and  a  practical  ascendency  over  their  con- 
duct, so  as  to  make  it  true  of  all,  and  of  every 
one  of  us,  that  there  is  none  Avho  understand- 
etb,  and  none  who  seeketh  after  God. 

Now,  if  a  man  do  not  see  this  case  made  out 
against  himself  in  all  its  enormity,  he  will  feel 
that  the  man  who  talks  of  it,  and  who  proposes 
the  gospel  application  to  it,  talketh  mysterious- 
ly. If  the  Spirit  have  not  convinced  him  of  sin, 
and  he  have  not  learned  to  submit  his  charac- 
ter to  the  lofty  standard  of  a  law  which  offers 
to  subordinate  to  the  will  of  God,  not  merely  the 
whole  habit  of  his  outward  history,  but  also  the 
whole  habit  of  his  inward  affections,both  the  dis- 
ease and  the  remedy  are  alike  unknown  to  him. 
His  character  may  be  fair  and  respectable  in  the 
eyes  of  men  ;  but  it  will  not  carry  upon  it  one 
feature  <5f  that  spirituality  and  holiness,  and  re- 
lish for  those  exercises  that  have  God  for  their 
immediate  object,  which  assimilate  men  to  an- 
gels, and  make  them  meet  for  the  joys  of  eterni- 
ty. His  morality  will  be  the  morality  of  life,  and 
his  virtues  will  be  the  virtues  of  the  world;  and 


a4  SERMON  III. 

all  the  mystery  of  a  parable,  or  of  a  dark  saying, 
will  appear  to  hang  over  the  terms  and  the  ex- 
planations of  that  gospel,  against  the  light  of 
which,  the  god  of  this  world  blindeth  the  minds 
of  those  who  believe  not. 

Let  us   therefore  reflect  that  the  principle 
on  which  the  peculiarities  of  the  gospel  look 
so  mysterious,  is  just  the  feeling  which  nature 
has  of  its  own  sufficienc}' ;  and,  that  you  may 
renounce  this   delusive  feeling  altogether,  we 
ask  you  to  think,  how  totally  destitute  you  are 
of  that  which  God  chiefly  requires  of  you.  He 
requires  your  heart,  and  we  venture  to  say  of 
every  man   amongst  you,  who  has  heretofore 
lived  in  neglect  of  the  great  salvation,  that  his 
heart,  with  all  its  objects  and  affections,  is  away 
from  God, — that  it  is  not  a  sense  of  oWigation 
to  him  which  forms   the  habitual  and  the  pre- 
siding influence  of  its  movements, — that  there- 
fore every  day  and  every  hour  of  your  history 
in  the  world,  accumulates   upon  you  the  guilt 
of  a  disobedience  of  a  far  deeper  and  more  of- 
fensive character  than  even  the  disobedience 
of  your  more  notorious  and  external  violations. 
,  There  is  ever  with  you,  lying  folded  in  the  re- 
y  cesses  of  your  bosom,  and  pervading  the  whole 
system  both  of  your  desires  and  of  your  doings, 
that  which  gives  to  sin  all  its  turpitude,  and  all 
its  moral  hideousness  in    the  sight   of   God. 
There  is  a  rooted  preference  of  the  creature  to 
the  Creator.     There  is  a  full  desire  after  the 


SERMON  III.  85 

gift,  and  a  listless  ingratitude  towards  the  giv- 
er. There  in  an  utter  devotedness,  in  one  shape 
or  other,  to  the  world  that  is  to  be  burnt  up, — 
and  an  utter  forgetfulness,  amid  all  your  forms, 
and  all  jour  decencies,  of  him  who  endureth  for 
ever.     There  is  that  universal  attribute  of  the 
carnal    mind — enmity  against    God ;  and   we 
affirm   that,  with  this  distaste  in  your  hearts 
towards  him,  you,  on  every  principle  of  a  spirit- 
ual and  intelligent  morality,  are  as  chargeable 
with  rebelHon  against  your  Maker,  as  if  some 
apostate  angel   had  been  your  champion,  and 
you  warred  with  God,  under  the  waving  stand- 
ards of  defiance.     It  was  to  clear  away  the 
guilt  of  this  monstrous  iniquity  that  Christ  died. 
It   was    to  make   it  possible  for  God,  with  his 
truth  unviolated,  and  his  holiness  untarnished^ 
and  all  the   hig-h   attributes  of  his  eternal  and 
unchangeable  nature  unimpaired,  to  hold  out 
forgiveness  to  the  world, — that  propitiation  was 
made  through  the  blood  of  his  own  Son,  even 
that  God  might  be  just,  while   the  justitier  of 
them  who  believe   in  Jesus.     It  is  to  make  it 
possible  for  man  to  love  the  Being  whom  nature 
taught  him  to  hate  and  to  fear,  that  God  now 
lifts,  from  his  mercy-seat,  a  voice    of  the  most 
beseeching   tenderness,   and  smiles   upon  the 
world  as  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  and  not  imputing  unto  them  their 
trespasses.     It  was  utterly  to  shift  the  moral 
constitution    of  our  minds, — an    achievement 
beyond  any  power  of  humanity, — that  the  Sa- 


86  SERMON  III. 

viour,  after  he  died  and  rose  again,  obtained 
the  promise  of  the  Father,  even  that  Spirit, 
through  whom  alone  the  fixed  and  radical  dis- 
ease of  nature  can  be  done  away.  And  thus, 
by  the  ministration  of  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  does  he  undertake  not  only  to  improve 
but  to  change  us, — not  only  to  repair  but  to 
re-make  us, — not  only  to  amend  our  evil  works, 
but  to  create  us  anew  unto  good  works,  that 
we  may  be  the  workmanship  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord.  These  are  the  leading  and 
essential  peculiarities  of  the  New  Testament. 
This  is  the  truth  of  Christ ;  though  to  the  ge- 
neral mind  of  the  world  it  is  the  truth  of  Christ 
in  a  mystery.  These  are  the  parables  which 
the  commissioned  messengers  of  grace  are  to 
deal  out  to  the  sinful  children  of  Adam, — and 
dark  as  they  may  appear,  or  disgusting  as  they 
may  sound  in  the  ears  of  those  who  think  that 
they  are  rich,  and  have  need  of  nothing,  they 
are  the  very  articles  upon  which  hope  is  made 
to  beam  on  the  heart  of  a  converted  sinner — 
and  peace  is  restored  to  him, — and  acceptance 
with  God  is  secured  by  the  terms  of  an  unalter- 
able covenant, — and  the  only  effective  instru- 
ments of  a  vital  and  substantial  reformation 
are  provided  ;  so  that  he  who  before  was  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins  is  quickened  together 
with  Christ,  and  made  alive  unto  God,  and 
renewed  again  after  his  image,  and  enabled  to 
make  constant  progress  in  all  the  graces  of 
a  holy  and  spiritual  obedience. 


SERMON  IV, 

AN'    ESTIMATE    OF    THE    MORALITY    THAT    IS 
WITHOUT    GODLINESS. 


Job  ix.  30—33. 

•'  If  I  wash  myself  with  snow  water,  and  make  my  hands 
never  so  clean  :  Yet  shalt  thou  plunge  me  in  the  ditch, 
and  mine  own  clothes  shall  abhor  me.  For  he  is  not  a 
man,  as  I  am,  that  I  should  answer  him,  and  we  should 
come  together  in  judgment.  Neither  is  there  any  day's- 
man  betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both." 

To  the  people  of  every  Christian  country  the 
doctrine  of  a  Mediator  between  God  and  man 
is  familiarized  by  long  possession ;  though  to 
many  of  them  it  be  nothing  more  than  the  fa- 
miliarity of  a  name  recognised  as  a  well-known 
sound  by  the  ear,  without  sending  one  fruit- 
ful or  substantial  thought  into  the  understand- 
ing. For,  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  list- 
less acquiescence  of  the  mind,  in  a  doctrine,  to 
the  statement  or  to  the  explanation  of  which 
it  has  been  long  habituated,  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  actual  hold  which  the  mind 
takes  of  the  doctrine,— insomuch  that  it  is  very 


88  SERMON  IV. 

possible  for  man  to  be  a  lover  of  orthodoxy, 
and  to  sit  with  complacency  under  its  ministers, 
and  to  be  revolted  by  the  heresies  of  those  who 
would  either  darken  or  deny  any  of  its  articles, 
— and,  in  a  word,  to  be  most  tenacious  in  his 
preference  for  that  form  of  words  to  w^hich  he 
has  been  accustomed;  while  to  the  meaning 
of  the  words  themselves,  the  whole  man  is  in  a 
state  of  entire  dormancy,  and  delighted  though 
he  really  be  by  the  utterance  of  the  truth,  ex- 
hibits not  in  his  person,  or  in  his  history,  one 
evidence  of  that  practical  ascendency  which 
Christian  truth  is  sure  to  exert  over  the  heart 
and  the  habits  of  every  genuine  believer. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  dimness,  and  all  this 
indolence  about  the  realities  of  salvation,  it  is 
refreshing  to  view  the  workings  of  a  mind  that 
is  in  earnest ;  and  of  a  mind  too,  which,  instead 
of  being  mechanically  carried  forward  in  the 
track  of  a  prescribed  or  authoritative  orthodoxy, 
is  prompted  to  all  its  aspirations  by  a  deep  feel- 
ing of  guilt,  and  of  necessity.  Such  we  con- 
ceive to  have  been  the  mind  of  Job,  to  whom 
the  doctrine  of  a  Redeemer  had  not  been  expli- 
citly unfolded,  but  who  seems  at  times  to  have 
been  favoured  with  a  prophetic  glimpse  of  him 
through  the  light  of  a  dim  and  distant  futurity. 
The  state  of  his  body,  covered  as  it  was  with 
disease,  makes  him  an  object  of  sympathy.  But 
there  is  a  still  deeper  and  more  attractive  sym- 
pathy excited  by  the  state  of  his  soul,  labour- 


SERMON  IV.  ag 

ing  under  the  visitation  of  a  hand  that  was  too 
heavy  for  him;  called  out  to  a  combat  with 
God,  and  struggling  to  maintain  it;  at  one 
time,  tempted  to  measure  the  justice  of  his 
cause  with  the  righteousness  of  Heaven's  dis- 
pensations;  at  another,  closing  his  complaint 
with  the  murmurs  of  a  despairing  acquies- 
cence ;  and  at  lengtli  brought,  through  all  the 
varieties  of  an  exercised  and  agitated  spirit, 
to  submit  himself  to  God,  and  to  repent  in  dust 
and  in  ashes. 

There  is  a  darkness  in  the  book  of  Job.  He, 
at  one  time,  under  the  soreness  of  his  calamity, 
gives  way  to  impatience;  and,  at  another,  he 
seems  to  recall  the  hasty  utterance  of  his  more 
distempered  moments.  He,  in  one  place,  fills 
his  mouth  with  arguments;  and,  in  another,  he 
appears  willing  to  surrender  them  all,  and  to 
dechne  the  unequal  struggle  of  man  contending 
with  his  Maker.  He  is  evidently  oppressed 
throughout  by  a  feeling  of  want,  without  the 
full  understanding  of  an  adequate  or  an  appro- 
priate remedy.  Now,  it  does  give  a  higher 
sense  of  the  value  of  this  remedy,  when  we  are 
made  to  witness  the  unsatisfied  longings  of  one 
wholivedinadarkand  early  period  of  the  world 
—when  we  hear  him  telling,  as  he  does  in  these 
verses,  where  the  soreness  lies,  and  obscurely 
guessing  at  the  ministration  that issuited  to  it, — 
nor  do  we  know  a  single  passage  of  the  Bible 
which  carries  home  with  greater  effect  the  ne- 
12 


90  SERMON  IV. 

cessity  of  a  Mediator,  than  that  where  Job,  oB 
his  restless  bed,  is  set  before  us,  wearying  him- 
self in  the  hopeless  task  of  arguing  with  God, 
and  calling  for  some  day's-man  betwixt  them, 
who  might  lay  his  hand  upon  them  both. 

The  afflictions  which  were  heaped  upon  Job 
made  him  doubt  his  acceptance  with  his  Maker. 
This  was  the  great  burden  of  his  complaint,  and 
the  recovery  of  this  acceptance  was  the  theme 
of  many  a  fruitless  and  fatiguing  speculation. 
We  have  one  of  these  speculations  in  the  verses 
which  are  now  submitted  to  you ;  and  as  they 
are  four  in  number,  so  there  is  such  a  distinc^ 
lion  in  the  subjects  of  them,  that  the  passage 
naturally  resolves  itself  into  four  separate  to- 
pics of  illustration.  In  the  30th  verse,  we 
have  an  expedient  proposed  by  Job,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  acceptance  which  he 
longed  after :  "  If  I  wash  myself  with  sijow 
water,  and  make  my  hands  never  so  clean."  In 
the  31st  verse,  we  have  the  inefficacy  of  this 
expedient:  "Yet  shall  thou  plunge  me  in 
the  ditch,  and  mine  own  clothes  shall  abhor 
me."  In  the  3M  verse,  he  gives  the  reason 
of  this  inefficacy :  "  For  he  is  not  a  man,  as  I 
am,  that  I  should  answer  him,  and  we  should 
come  together  in  judgment."  And  in  the  33d 
verse,  he  intimates  to  us  the  right  expedient, 
under  the  form  of  complaining  that  he.  himself 
has  not  the   benefit  of  it :  "  Neither  is   there 


SERMON  IV.  §i 

any   day's-man  betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his 
hand  upoa  us  both.'' 

I.    It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  even   a 
mistaken  efficacy  should  be  ascribed  to  snow 
water,  in  the  country  of  Job's  residence,  where 
snow,  if  ever  it  fell  at  all,  must  have  fallen  rare- 
ly, at  very  extraordinary  seasons,  and  in  the 
more  elevated  parts  of  his  neighbourhood.  This 
rarity,  added  to  its  unsullied  whiteness,  might 
have  given  currency  to  an  idea  of  its  efficacy 
as  a  purifier,  beyond  what  actually  belonged  to 
it.   Certain  it  is,  too,  that  snow  water,  like  water 
deposited  from  the  atmosphere  in  any  other 
form,   does    not   possess  that  hardness  which 
is   often   to   be    met   with    in    spring    water. 
But  however  this  be,  and  whether  the  popular 
notion  of  the  purifying  virtues  of  snow  water, 
taken  up  by  Job,  be  well  founded  or  not,  we 
have  here  an  expedient  suggested  for  making 
the  hands  clean,  and  the  man  pure  and  accep- 
table in  the  sight  of  God, — a  method  proposed 
within  the   reach  of  man,  and  which  man  can 
perform,  for  making  himself  an  object  of  com- 
placency to  his  Maker, — a  method  too,  which  is 
quite    effectual  for  beautifying  all  that  meets 
the   discernment   of   the    outward    eye,    and 
which  is  here  set  before  us  as  connected  with 
the  object  of  gaining  the  eye  of  that  high  and 
heavenly  Witness,  with  whom  w^e  have  to  do. 
This  is  what  we  imderstand  to  be  represented  by 


92  SERMON  IV. 

washing  with  snow  water.  It  comprehends  all 
that  man  can  do  for  washing  himself,  and  for 
making  himself  clean  in  the  sight  of  God. 
J  ob  complains  of  the  fruitlessness  of  this  expe- 
dient, and  perhaps  mingles  with  his  complaints 
the  reproaches  of  a  spirit  that  was  not  yet  sub- 
dued to  entire  acquiescence  in  the  righteousness 
of  God.  Let  us  try  to  examine  this  matter, 
and,  if  possible,  ascertain  whether  man  is  able, 
on  the  utmost  stretch  of  his  powers  and  of  his 
performances,  to  make  himself  an  object  of  ap- 
probation to  his  Judge. 

Without  entering  into  the  metaphysical  con- 
troversy about  the  extent  or  the  freedom  of  hu- 
man agency,  let  it  be  observed,  that  there  is 
a  plain  and  a  popular  understanding  on  the 
subject  of  what  man  can  do,  and  of  what  he 
cannot  do.  We  wish  to  proceed  on  this  under- 
standing for  the  present,  and  to  illustrate  it 
by  a  few  examples.  Should  it  be  asked,  if  a 
man  can  keep  his  hands  from  stealing,  it  would 
be  the  unhesitating  answer  of  almost  every  one 
that  he  can  do  it, — and  if  he  can  keep  his 
tongue  from  lying,  that  he  can  do  it, — and  if  he 
can  constrain  his  feet  to  carry  him  every  Sab- 
bath to  the  house  of  God,  that  he  can  do  this 
also, — and  if  he  can  tithe  his  income,  or  even 
reducing  himself  to  the  necessaries  of  life,  make 
over  the  mighty  sacrifice  of  all  the  remainder 
to  the  poor,  that  it  is  certainly  possible  for  him 
to  do  it, — and  if  he  can  keep  a  guard  upon  hi« 


SERMON  IV.  93 

iips,  so-  that  not  one  whisper  of  malignity  shall 
escape  from  them,,  that  he  can  also  prescribe 
this  task  to  himself,  and  is  able  to  perform  it, — 
and  if  he  can  read  much  of  his  Bible,  and  ut- 
ter many  prayers  in  private,  that  he  can  do  it, — 
and  if  he  can  assemble  his  family  on  the  morn- 
ing and  the  evening  of  every  day,  and  go 
through  the  worship  of  God  along  with  them, 
that  all  this  he  can  do, — that  all  this  lies  with- 
in the  compass  of  human  agency. 

Let  any  one  man  do,  then,  what  all  men  think 
it  possible  for  him  to  do,  and  he  will  wear  upon 
his  person  the  visible  exhibition  of  much  to  re- 
commend him  to  the  favourable  judgment  of 
his  fellows.  He  will  be  guilty  of  no  one  trans- 
gression against  the  peace  and  order  of  society. 
He  will  be  correct,  and  regular,  and  completely 
inoffensive.  He  will  contribute  many  a  deed 
of  positive  beneficence  to  the  welfare  of  those 
around  him ;  and  m«iy  even,  on  the  strength  of 
his  many  decencies,  and  many  observations, 
hold  out  an  aspect  of  religiousness  to  the  ge- 
neral eye  of  the  world.  There  will  be  a  wide 
and  most  palpable  distinction  of  character  be- 
tween him,  and  those  who,  at  large  from  the 
principle  of  self  control,  resign  themselves  to 
the  impulse  of  every  present  temptation ;  and 
are  either  intemperate,  or  dishonest,  or  negli- 
gent of  ordinances,  just  as  habit,  or  the  urgency 
of  their  feelings  and  their  circumstances,  may 
happen  to  have  obtained  the  ascendency  over 
them.     These   do   not  what  they  might,  and 


94  SERMON  IV. 

what,  in  common  estimation,  they  can  do ;  and 
it  is  just  because  the  man  has  pat  forth  all  his 
strenuousness  to  the  task  of  accomplishing  all 
that  he  is  able  for,  that  he  looks  so  much  more 
seemly  than  those  who  are  beside  him,  and 
holds  out  a  far  more  engaging  display  of  what 
is  moral  and  praise-worthy  to  all  his  acquain- 
tances. 

If.  I  will  not  be  able  to  convince  you  how 
superficial  the  reformation  of  all  these  doings 
is,  without  passing  on  to  the  31st  verse, 
and  proving,  that  in  the  pure  eye  of  God  the 
man  who  has  made  the  most  copious  application 
in  his  power  of  snow  water  to  the  visible  con- 
duct, may  still  be  an  object  of  abhorrence ;  and 
that  if  God  enter  into  judgment  with  him,  he 
will  make  him  appear  as  one  plunged  in  the 
ditch,  his  righteousness  as  filthy  rags,  and  him- 
self as  an  unclean  thing.  There  are  a  thou- 
sand things  which,  in  popular  and  understood 
language,  man  can  do.  It  is  quite  the  general 
sentiment,  that  he  can  abstain  from  stealing, and 
lying,  and  calumny,— that  he  can  give  of  his  sub- 
stance to  the  poor,  and  attend  church,  and  pray, 
and  read  his  Bible,  and  keep  up  the  worship  of 
God  in  his  family.  But,  as  an  instance  of  dis- 
tinction between  what  he  can  do,  and  what  he 
cannot  do,  let  us  make  the  undoubted  asser- 
tion, that  he  can  eat  wormwood,  and  just  put 
the  question,  if  he  can  also  relish  wormwood. 
That  is  a  different  affair.  I  may  command  the 
performance ;  but  have  no  such  command  over* 


SERMON  IV.  95 

my  organs  of  sense,  as  to  command  a  liking,  or 
a  taste  for  the  performance.  The  illustration 
is  homely;  but  it  is  enough  for  our  purpose, 
if  it  be  ellective.  1  may  accomplish  the  doing 
of  what  God  bids;  but  have  no  pleasure  in 
God  himself  The  forcible  constraining  of 
the  hand,  may  make  out  many  a  visible  act 
of  obedience,  but  the  relish  of  the  heart  may 
refuse  to  go  along  with  it.  The  outer  man 
may  be  all  in  a  bustle  about  the  command- 
ments of  God,  while  to  the  inner  man  God 
is  an  offence  and  a  weariness.  His  neighbours 
may  look  at  him,  and  all  that  their  eye  can 
reach  may  be  as  clean  as  snow  water  can  make 
it.  But  the  eye  of  God  reaches  a  great  deal 
farther.  He  is  the  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart,  and  he  may  see  the 
foulness  of  spiritual  idolatry  in  every  one  of  its 
receptacles.  The  poor  man  has  no  more  con- 
quered his  rebellious  affections,  than  he  has 
conquered  his  distaste  for  wormwood.  He  may 
fear  God;  he  may  hsten  to  God;  and,  in  out- 
ward deed,  may  obey  God.  But  he  does  not, 
and  he  will  not,  love  God ;  and  while  he  drags 
a  heavy  load  of  tasks,  and  duties,  and  observ- 
ances after  him,  he  Hves  in  the  hourly  violation 
of  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  commandments. 
Would  any  parent  among  you  count  it  enough 
that  you  obtained  a  service  like  this  from  one 
of  your  children.^  Would  you  be  satisfied  with 
the  obedience  of  his  hand,  while  you  knew  that 
the  affections  of  his  heart  were  totally  away  from 


m  SERMON  IV. 

you  ?  Let  every  one  requirement,  issued  from 
the  chair  of  parental  authority,  be  most  rigidly 
and  punclually  done  by  him,  would  not  the  sul- 
lenness  of  his  alienated  countenance  turn  the 
whole  of  it  into  bitterness  ?  It  is  the  heart  o{ 
his  son  which  the  parent  longs  after;  and  the 
lurking  distaste  and  disaffection  which  rankle 
there,  can  never,  never  be  made  up  by  such  an 
obedience,  as  the  yoked  and  the  tortured  negro 
is  compelled  to  yield  to  the  whip  of  the  over- 
seer. The  service  may  be  done ;  but  all  that 
can  minister  satisfaction  in  the  principle  of  the 
service,  may  be  w  ithheld  from  it ;.  and  though 
the  very  last  item  of  the  bidden  performance 
is  rendered,  this  will  neither  mend  the  defor- 
mity of  the  unnatural  child,  nor  soothe  the  feel- 
ings of  the  afflicted  and  the  mortified  father. 

God  is  the  Father  of  spirits ;  and  the  willing 
subjection  of  the  spirit  is  that  which  he  requires 
of  us;  "  My  son,  give  me  thy  heart;"  and  if  the 
heart  be  withheld,  God  says  of  all  our  visible 
performances,  "  To  what  purpose  is  the  multi- 
tude of  your  sacrifices  unto  me  ?"  The  heart 
is  his  requirement;  and  full,  indeed,  is  the  title 
which  he  prefers  to  it.  He  put  life  into  us ;  and 
it  is  he  who  hath  drawn  a  circle  of  enjoyments, 
and  friendships,  and  interests  around  us.  Every 
thing  that  we  take  delight  in,  is  ministered  to 
us  out  of  his  hand.  He  pHes  us  every  moment 
with  his  kindness ;  and  when  at  length  the  gift 
stole  the  heart  of  man  away  from  the  Giver,  so 
that  he  became  a  lover  of  his  own  pleasure, 


SERMON  IV.  97 

rather  than  a  lover  of  God,  even  then  would 
he  not  leave  us  to  perish  in  the  guilt  of  our 
rebellion.  Man  made  himself  an  alien,  but 
God  was  not  willing  to  abandon  him;  and,  ra- 
ther than  lose  him  for  ever,  did  he  devise  a  way 
of  access  by  which  to  woo,  and  to  welcome  him 
back  again.  The  way  of  our  recovery  is  indeed 
a  way  that  his  heart  was  set  upon  ;  and  to  prove 
it,  he  sent  his  own  eternal  Son  into  the  world, 
who  unrobed  him  of  aH  his  glories,  and  made 
himself  of  no  reputation-  He  had  to  travel  in 
the  greatness  of  his  strength,  that  he  might  un- 
bar the  gates  of  acceptance  to  a  guilty  world; 
and  now  that,  in  full  harmony  with  the  truth 
and  the  justice  of  God,  sinners  may  draw  nigh 
through  the  blood  of  the  atonement,  what  is 
the  wonderful  length  to  which  the  condescen- 
sion of  God  carries  him  ?  Why,  he  actually  be- 
seeches us  to  be  reconciled ;  and,  with  a  tone 
more  tender  than  the  affection  of  an  earthly 
father  ever  prompted,  does  he  call  upon  us  to 
turn,  and  to  turn,  for  why  should  we  die  ?  If, 
after  all  this,  the  antipathy  of  nature  to  God 
atill  cleave  to  us ;  if,  under  the  power  of  this 
antipathy,  the  service  we  yield  be  the  cold  and 
unwilling  service  of  constraint ;  if,  with  many 
©f  the  visible  outworks  of  obedience,  there  be 
also  the  strugglings  of  a  reluctant  heart  to  take 
siway  from  this  obedience  all  its  cheerfulness, 
is  not  God  defrauded  of  his  offering?  Does 
there  not  rest  on  the  moral  aspect  of  our  cha- 
i^acter,  in  reference  to  him,  all  the  odiousness  of 

13 


98  SERMON  IV. 

unnatural  children  ?  Let  our  outer  doings  be 
what  the  J  may,  does  there  not  adhere  to  us  the 
turpitude  of  having  deeply  revolted  against  that 
Being  whose  kindness  has  never  abandoned  us? 
And,  though  pure  in  the  eye  of  our  fellows, 
and  our  hands  be  clean  as  with  snow  water,  is 
there  nothing  in  our  hearts  against  which  a 
spiritual  law  may  denounce  its  severities,  and 
the  giver  of  that  law  may  lift  a  voice  of  right- 
eous expostulation  ^  '^  Hear  ye  now  what  the 
Lord  saith;  Arise,  contend  thou  before  the 
mountains,  and  let  the  hills  hear  thy  voice. 
Hear  ye,  O  mountains,  the  Lord's  controversy, 
and  ye  strong  foundations  of  the  earth  :  for  the 
Lord  hath  a  controversy  with  his  people,  and 
he  will  plead  with  Israel.  O  my  people,  what 
have  I  done  unto  thee,  and  wherein  have  I 
wearied  thee  ?  testify  against  me." 

It  is  not  easy  to  lay  open  the  utter  naked- 
ness of  the  natural  heart  in  re  ference  to  God  ; 
ov  to  convince  the  possessor  of  it,  that,  under 
the  guise  of  his  many  plausibilities,  there  may 
lurk  that  which  gives  to  sin  all  its  hideousness. 
The  mere  man  of  ordinances  cannot  acquiesce 
in  what  he  reckons  to  be  the  exaggerations  of 
orthodoxy  upon  this  subject ;  nor  can  he  at  all 
conceive  how  it  is  possible  that,  with  so  much 
of  the  semblance  of  godliness  about  him,  there 
should,  at  the  same  time,  be  within  him  the 
very  opposite  of  godliness.  It  is,  indeed,  a  dif- 
ficult task  to  carry  upon  this  point  the  con- 
viction of  hiiu  who  positively  loves  the  Sabbath. 


SERMON  IV.  99 

and  to  whom  the  chime  of  its  morning  bells 
brings  the  delightful  associations  of  peace  and 
ofsacredness, — who  has  his  hours  of  prayer,  at 
which  he  gathers  his  family  around  him,  and 
his  hours  of  attexiJaace  on  that  house  where 
the  man  of  God  deals  out  his  weekly  lessons  to 
the'assembled  congregation.  It  may  be  in  vain  to 
tell  him,  that  God  in  fact  is  a  weariness  to  his 
heart,  when  it  is  attested  to  iiim  by  his  own 
consciousness;  that  when  the  preacher  is  before 
him,  and  the  people  are  around  him,  and  the 
professed  object  of  their  coming  together  is  to 
join  in  the  exercise  of  devotion,  and  to  grow  in 
the  knowledge  of  God,  he  finds  in  fact  that  all 
is  pleasantness, — that  his  eye  is  not  merely 
filled  with  the  public  exhibition,  and  his  ear 
regaled  by  the  impressiveness  of  a  human  voice, 
but  that  the  interest  of  his  heart  is  completely 
kept  up  by  the  succession  and  variety  of  the 
exercises  It  may  be  in  vain  to  tell  him,  that 
this  religion  of  taste,  or  this  religion  of  habit, 
or  this  religion  of  inheritance,  may  utterly  con- 
sist with  the  deep  and  the  determined  worldli- 
ness  of  all  his  affections, — that  he  whom  he 
thinks  to  be  the  God  of  his  Sabbath  is  not  the 
God  of  his  week ;  but  that,  throughout  all  the 
successive  days  of  it,  he  is  going  astray  after  the 
idols  of  vanity,  and  living  without  God  in  the 
world.  This  is  demonstration  enough  of  all  his 
forms,  and  all  his  observations,  being  a  mere 
surface  display,  without  a  living  principle  of 
piety.     But  perhaps  it  may  serve  more  effectu- 


too  SERMON  rV'. 

ally  to  convince  him  of  it,  should  we  ask  him. 
how  his  godliness  thrives  in  the  closet,  and 
what  are  the  workings  of  his  heart,  in  the  ab- 
stract and  solitary  hour  of  intercourse,  with  the 
unseen  Father.  In  church,  there  may  be  much 
to  interest  him,  and  to  keep  him  alive.  But 
when  alone,  and  deserted  by  all  the  accom- 
paniments of  a  solemn  assembly,  we  should 
like  to  know  with  what  vivacity  he  enters  on 
the  one  business  of  meditating  on  God,  and 
holding  converse  with  God.  Is  the  sense  of 
the  all-seeing  and  ever-present  Deity  enough 
for  him ;  and  does  love  to  God  brighten  and 
sustain  the  moments  of  solitary  prayer  ?  The 
mind  may  have  enough  to  interest  it  in 
church;  but  does  the  secret  exercise  of  fellow- 
ship with  the  Father  bring  no  distaste,  and  no 
weariness  along  with  it  ?  Is  it  any  thing  more 
than  the  homage  of  a  formal  presentation  ? 
And  when  the  business  of  devotion  is  thus  un- 
peopled of  all  its  externals,  and  of  all  its  ac- 
cessaries ;  when  thus  reduced  to  a  naked  exer- 
cise of  spirit,  can  you  appeal  to  the  longings, 
and  the  affections  of  that  spirit,  as  the  essen- 
tial proof  of  your  godhness  ?  And  do  you  never, 
on  occasions  like  this,  discover  that  which  is  in 
your  hearts,  and  detect  their  enmity  to  him 
who  formed  them  ?  Do  you  afford  no  ground  for 
the  complaint  which  he  uttered  of  old,  when  he 
said,  "  Have  I  been  a  wilderness  unto  Israel, 
and  a  land  of  darkness  ?"  And  do  you  not  perr 
ceive  that  with  this  direction  of  your  feelings 


SERMON  IV.  101 

and  your  desires  away  from  the  living  God, 
though  you  be  outwardly  clean,  as  by  the 
operation  of  snow  water,  he  may  plunge  you 
in  the  ditch,  and  make  your  own  clothes  to  ab- 
hor you  ? 

We  shall  conclude  this  part  of  our  subject 
with  two  observations. 

First.  The  efforts  of  nature  may,  in  point  of 
inadequacy,  be  compared  to  the  application  of 
snow  water.  Yet  there  is  a  practical  mischief 
here,  in  which  the  zeal  of  controversy,  bent  on 
its  one  point,  and  its  one  principle,  may  uncon- 
sciously involve  us.  We  are  not,  in  pursuit  of 
any  argument  whatever,  to  lose  sight  of  efforts. 
We  are  not  to  deny  them  the  place,  and  the 
importance  which  the  Bible  plainly  assigns  to 
them ;  nor  are  we  to  forbear  insisting  upon  their 
performance  by  men,  previous  to  conversion, 
and  in  the  very  act  of  conversion,  and  in  every 
period  of  the  progress,  however  far  advanced 
it  may  be,  of  the  new  creature  in  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  We  speak  just  now  of  men,  previ- 
ous to  conversion,  and  we  call  to  your  remem- 
brance the  example  of  John  the  Baptist.  The 
injudicious  way  in  which  the  doings  of  men 
have  been  spoken  of,  has  had  practically  this 
effect  on  many  an  inquirer.  Since  doing  is  of 
so  little  consequence,  let  us  even  abstain  from 
it.  Now  the  forerunner  of  Christ  spake  a  very 
different  language.  He  unceasingly  called  up- 
on the  people  to  do ;  and  this  was  the  very 
preaching  which  the  divine  wisdom  appointed 


102  SERMON  IV. 

as  a  preparation  for  the  Saviour.  "  He  that 
hath  two  coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath 
none;  and  he  that  hath  meat,  let  him  do  like- 
wise."— "  Exact  no  more  than  that  which  is  ap- 
pointed."— '^  Do  violence  to  no  man  ;  neither 
accuse  any  falsely,  and  be  content  with  your 
wages."  Was  not  John,  then,  it  may  be  said, 
a  mere  superficial  reformer.^  Had  he  stopped 
short  at  this,  he  would  have  been  no  better.  His 
teaching  could  have  done  no  more  than  is  done 
by  the  mere  application  of  snow  water.  But 
he  did  not  stop  here.  He  told  the  people  that 
there  was  a  preacher,  and  a  preaching  to  come 
after  him,  in  comparison  of  which  he  and  his 
sermons  were  nothing.  He  pointed  the  eye  and 
the  expectation  of  his  hearers  full  upon  one 
that  was  greater  than  himself;  and,  while  he 
baptized  with  water  unto  repentance,  and  call- 
ed upon  the  people  to  frame  their  doings,  he 
told  them  of  one  mightier  than  he,  who  was  to 
baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire. 

And,  Secondly,  That  you  may  be  convinced 
©f  the  utter  necessity  of  such  a  baptism,  let  us 
afiirm  the  inadequacy  of  all  the  fairest  virtues 
and  accomplishments  of  nature.  God  has,  for 
the  well-being  of  society,  provided  man  with 
certain  feelings  and  constitutional  principles  of 
action,  which  lead  him  to  a  conduct  beneficial 
to  those  around  him ;  to  which  conduct  he  may 
be  carried  by  the  impulse  of  these  principles, 
with  as  little  reference  to  the  will  of  God,  as  a 
mother,  among  the  inferior  animals^  when  coi>- 


SERMON  IV.  loa 

strained  by  the  sweet  and  powerful  influences 
of  natural  affection,  to  guard  the  safety,  and 
provide  for  the  nourishment  of  her  young. 
Take  account  of  these  principles  as  they  exist 
in  the  bosom  of  man,  and  you  there  find  compas- 
sion for  the  unfortunate ;  the  shame  of  detection 
in  any  thing  mean,  or  disgraceful ;  the  desire 
of  standing  well  in  the  opinion  of  his  fellows; 
the  kindlier  charities,  which  shed  a  mild  and 
a  quiet  lustre  over  the  walks  of  domestic  life; 
and  those  wider  principles  of  patriotism  and 
public  usefulness  which,  combined  with  an  ap- 
petite for  distinction,  will  raise  a  few  of  the 
more  illustrious  of  our  race  to  some  high  and 
splendid  career  of  beneficence.  Now,  these  are 
the  principles  which,  scattered  in  various  pro- 
portions among  the  individuals  of  human  kind, 
give  rise  to  the  varied  hues  of  character  among 
them.  Some  possess  them  in  no  sensible  de- 
gree; and  they  are  pointed  at  with  abhorrence, 
as  the  most  monstrous  and  deformed  of  the  spe- 
cies. Others  have  an  average  share  x)f  them; 
and  they  take  their  station  amongst  the  com- 
mon-place characters  of  society.  And  others 
go  beyond  the  average;  and  are  singled  out 
from  amongst  their  fellows,  as  the  kind,  the 
amiable,  the  sweet-tempered,  the  upright^ 
whose  hearts  swell  with  honourable  feelings 
or  whose  pulse  beats  high  in  the  pride  of  in- 
tegrity. 

Now,  conceive  for  a  moment,  that  the  belief 
«f  a  God  were  to  be  altogether  expunged  from 


104  SERMON  IV. 

the  world.  We  have  no  doubt  that  society 
would  suffer  most  painfully  in  its  temporal  inter- 
ests by  such  an  event.  But  the  machine  of  soci- 
ety might  still  be  kept  up ;  and  on  the  face  of 
it  you  might  still  meet  with  the  same  gradations 
of  character,  and  the  same  varied  distribution 
of  praise,  among  the  individuals  who  compose 
it.  Suppose  it  possible,  that  the  world  could 
be  broken  off  from  the  system  of  God's  adminis- 
tration altogether ;  and  that  he  were  to  consign 
it,  with  all  its  present  accommodations,  and  all  its 
natural  principles,  to  some  far  and  solitary  place 
beyond  the  limits  of  his  economy— we  should  still 
find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  moral  variety  of 
character;  and  man,  sitting  in  judgment  over 
it,  would  say  of  some,  that  they  are  good,  and  of 
others,  that  they  are  evil.  Even  in  this  desolate 
region  of  atheism,  the  eye  of  the  sentimentalist 
might  expatiate  among  beauteous  and  interest- 
ing spectacles,-amiable  mothers  shedding  their 
graceful  tears  over  the  tomb  of  departed  in- 
fancy; high-toned  integrity  maintaining  itself 
unsullied  amid  the  allurements  of  corruption; 
benevolence  plying  its  labours  of  usefulness  ; 
and  patriotism  earning  its  proud  reward,  in  the 
testimony  of  an  approving  people.  Here,  then, 
you  have  compassion,  and  natural  affection,  and 
justice,  and  public  spirit — but  would  it  not  be 
a  glaring  perversion  of  language  to  say,  that 
there  was  godliness  in  a  world,  where  there 
was  no  feeling  and  no  conviction  about 
t3lod  ? 


SERMON  IV.  105 

In  the  midst  of  this  busy  scene,  let  God  re- 
veal himself,  not  to  eradicate  these  principles 
of  action — but  giving  his  sanction  to  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  and  lovely,  and  honourable,  and 
of  good  report,  to  make  himself  knov^n,  at  the 
s.  me  time  as  the  Creator  and  Upholder  of  all 
things,  and  as  the  Being  with  whom  all  his  ra- 
tional offspring  had  to  do.  Is  this  solemn  an- 
nouncement fi  om  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  to 
make  no  difference  upon  them  ?  Are  those  prin- 
ciples which  might  flourish  and  be  sustained  on 
a  soil  of  atheism,  to  be  counted  enough  even  af- 
ter the  wonderful  truth  of  a  living  and  a  reign- 
ing God  has  burst  upon  the  world  ?  You  are 
just ; — right,  indispensably  right.  You  say  you 
have  asserted  no  more  than  your  own.  But  this 
property  is  not  your  own.  He  gave  it  to  you, 
and  he  may  call  upon  you  to  give  to  him  an 
account  of  your  stewardship.  You  are  compas- 
sionate ; — right  also.  But  what  if  he  set  up  the 
measure  of  the  sanctuary  upon  your  compassion? 
and,  instead  of  a  desultory  instinct,  excited  to 
feeling  by  a  moving  picture  of  sensibility,  and 
limited  in  effect  to  a  humble  fraction  of  your  ex- 
penditure, he  call  upon  you  to  love  your  neigh- 
bour as  yourself,  and  to  maintain  this  principle 
at  the  expense  of  self-denial,  and  in  the  midst 
of  manifold  provocations  ?  You  love  your  chil- 
dren;— still  indispensably  right.  But  what  if  he 
should  say,  and  he  has  actually  said  it,  that  you 
may  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  chil- 
dren, and  still  be  evil  ?  and  that  if  you  love  fa* 

U 


106  SERMON  IV. 

ther,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  more  than 
him,  you  are  not  worthy  of  him  ?  The  lustre 
of  your  accomplishments  dazzles  the  eye  of 
your  neighbourhood,  and  you  bask  with  a  de- 
lighted heart  in  the  sunshine  of  glory.  Bui 
what  if  he  should  say,  that  his  glory,  and  not 
your  own,  should  be  the  constant  aim  of  your 
doings  ?  and  that  if  you  love  the  praise  of 
men  more  than  the  praise  of  God,  you  stand, 
in  the  pure  and  spiritual  records  of  heaven, 
convicted  of  idolatry  ?  You  love  the  things  of 
the  world ;  and  the  men  of  the  world,  coming 
together  in  judgment  upon  you,  take  no  of- 
fence at  it.  But  God  takes  offence  at  it.  He 
says, — and  is  he  not  right  in  saying  ? — that  if 
the  gift  withdraw  the  affections  from  the  Giver, 
there  is  something  wrong ;  that  the  love  of  these 
things  is  opposite  to  the  love  of  the  Father;  and 
that,  unless  you  withdraw  your  affections  from  a 
world  that  perisheth,  you  will  perish  along  with 
it.  Surely  if  these,  and  such  like  principles, 
may  consist  with  the  atheism  of  a  world  where 
God  is  unthought  of,  and  unknown, — ^you 
stand  convicted  of  a  still  deeper  and  more 
determined  atheism,  who,  under  the  revela- 
tion of  a  God  challenging  the  honour  that  is 
due  unto  his  name,  are  satisfied  with  your 
holding  in  society,  and  live  without  him  in  the 
world. 


SERMON  Y,. 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  MEN,  COMPARED  WITH  TH^E 
JUDGMENT  OF  GOD.   . 


'  With  me  il  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged 
of  you,  or  of  man's  judgment ; — he  that  judgeth  ma 
is  the  Lord."  1  Corinthians,  3,  4. 

III.  When  two  parties  meet  together  on  the 
business  of  adjusting  their  respective  claims,  or 
when,  in  the  language  o£our  text,  they  come  to- 
gether in  judgment,  the  principles  on  which 
they  proceed  must  depend  on  the  relation  in 
which  they  stand  to  each  other ;  and  we  know 
not  a  more  fatal,  or  a  more  deep-laid  delusion, 
than  that  by  which  the  principles,  applicable  to 
the  case  of  a  man  entering  into  judgment  with 
his  fellow-men,  are  transferred  to  the  far  differ- 
ent case  of  man's  entering  into  judgment  with 
his  God.  Job  seems  to  have  been  aware  of 
this  difference,  and  at  times  to  have  been  hum- 
bled by  it.  In  reference  to  man,  he  stood  on 
triumphant  ground,  and  often  spoke  of  it  in  a 


lOB  SERMON  V. 

style  of  boastful  vindication.  No  one  could 
impeach  his  justice.  No  one  could  question  his 
generosity.  And  he  made  his  confident  ap- 
peal to  the  remembrance  of  those  around  him, 
when  he  says  of  himself,  that  he  delivered  the, 
poor  that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him 
that  had  none  to  help  him ;  that  the  blessing  of 
him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  him, 
and  he  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  siiig  for  joy; 
that  he  put  on  righteousness,  and  it  clothed 
him,  and  his  judgment  was  as  a  robe  and  a  dia- 
dem ;  that  he  was  eyes  to  the  blind,  and  feet 
was  he  to  the  lame  ;  that  he  was  a  father  to  the 
poor,  Jind  the  cause  that  he  knew  not,  he 
searched  out.  On  these  grounds  did  he  chal- 
lenge the  judgment  of  man,  and  actually  ob- 
tained it.  For  we  are  told,  because  he  did  all 
this,  that  when  the  ear  heard  him,  then  it  bless- 
ed him,  and  when  the  eye  saw  him,  it  gave  wit- 
ness unto  him. 

There  is  not  a  more  frequent  exercise  of 
mind  in  society,  than  that  by  which  the  mem- 
bers of  it  form  and  declare  their  judgment  of 
each  other — and  the  work  of  thus  decidino:  is  a 
work  which  they  all  share  in,  and  on  which, 
perhaps,  there  is  not  a  day  of  their  lives 
wherein  they  are  not  called  upon  to  expend 
some  measure  of  attention  and  understanding — 
and  we  know  not  if  there  be  a  single  topic 
that  more  readily  engages  the  conversation  of 
human  beings — and  often  do  we  utter  our 
own  testimony,  and  hear  the  testimony  of  others 


SERMON  V.  109 

to  the  virtues  and  vices  of  the  absent — and  out 
of  all  this  has  arisen  a  standard  of  estimation — 
and  it  is  such  a  standard  as  many  may  actually 
reach,  and  soRie  have  actually  exceeded — and 
thus  it  is,  that  it  appears  to  require  a  very  ex- 
tended scale  of  reputation  to  take  in  all  the 
varieties  of  human  character — and  while  the 
lower  extremity  of  it  is  occupied  by  the  dis- 
honest, and  the  perfidious,  and  the  glaringly 
selfish,  who  are  outcasts  from  general  respect ; 
on  the  higher  extremity  of  it,  do  we  behold 
men,  to  whom  are  awarded,  by  the  universal 
voice,  all  the  honours  of  a  proud  and  unsulHed 
excellence — and  their  walk  in  the  world  is  dig- 
nified by  the  reverence  of  many  salutations — 
and  as  we  hear  of  their  truth  and  their  upright- 
ness, and  their  princely  liberalities,  ^nd  of  a 
heart  alive  to  every  impulse  of  sympathy,  and 
of  a  manner  sweetened  by  all  the  delicacies  of 
genuine  kindness ; — Who  does  not  see  that,  in 
this  assemblage  of  moral  graces  and  accomplish- 
ments, there  is  enough  to  satisfy  man,  and  to 
carry  the  admiration  of  man  ?  and  can  we  won- 
der if,  while  we  gaze  on  so  fine  a  specimen  of 
our  nature,  we  should  not  merely  pronounce 
upon  him  an  honourable  sentence  at  the  tri- 
bunal of  human  judgment,  but  we  should  con- 
ceive of  hiiA  that  he  looks  as  bright  and  fault- 
less in  the  eye  of  God,  and  that  he  is  in  every 
way  meet  for  his  presence  and  his  friendship 
in  eternity  ? 

Now,  if  there  be  any  truth  in  the  distinction 


110  SERMON  V. 

of  our  text;  if  a  man  may  have  the  judgment 
of  his  fellows,  and  yet  be  utterly  unfit  for  con- 
tending in  judgment  with  God ;  if  there  be 
any  emphasis  in  the  consideration,  that  he  is 
God,  and  not  man;  or  any  delusion  in  conceiv- 
ing of  him,  that  he  is  altogether  like  unto  our- 
selves,—-may  not  all  that  ready  circulation  of 
praise,  and  of  acknowledgment,  which  obtains 
in  society,  carry  a  most  ruinous,  and  a  most  be- 
witching influence  along  with  it  ?  Is  it  not  pos- 
sible that  on  the  applause  of  man  there  may  be 
reared  a  most  treacherous  self-complacency  r 
Might  not  we  build  a  confidence  before  God, 
on  this  sandy  foundation  ?  Think  you  not,  that 
it  is  just  this  ill-supported  confidence  which 
shuts  out  from  many  a  heart  the  humiliating 
doctrine  of  the  gospel  ?  Is  there  no  &uch  ima- 
gination as  that  because  we  are  so  well  able 
to  stand  our  ground  before  the  judgment  of 
the  world,  we  shall  be  equally  well  able  to  stand 
our  ground  before  the  judgment-seat  of  the 
great  day  ?  Are  there  not  many  who,  upon  this 
very  principle,  count  themselves  rich  and  to 
have  need  of  nothing  ?  And  have  you  never 
met  with  men  of  character,  and  estimation  in 
society,  who,  surrounded  by  the  gratulations 
of  their  neighbourhood,  find  the  debasing 
views  of  humanity,  which  are  *set  before 
us  in  the  New  Testament,  to  be  beyond  their 
comprehension  ;  who  are  utterly  in  the  dark,  as 
to  the  truth  and  the  justness  of  such  represen- 
tations, and  with  whom  the  voice  of  God  is 


SERMON  V.  Ill 

llierefbre  deafened  by  the  voice  and  the  testi- 
mony of  men  ?  They  see  not  themselves  in  that 
character  of  vileness  and  of  guilt  which  he 
ascribes  to  them.  They  are  blind  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  text,  that  he  is  not  a  man ;  and  that 
they  may  not  be  able  to  answer  him,  though 
they  may  be  able  to  meet  the  every  reproach, 
and  to  hold  out  the  lofty  vindication  against 
every  charge,  which  any  one  of  their  fellows 
may  prefer.  And  thus  it  is,  that  many  live  in 
the  habitual  neglect  of  a  salvation  which  they 
cannot  see  that  they  require ;  and  spend  their 
days  in  an  insidious  security,  from  which  no- 
thing but  the  voice  of  the  last  messenger,  or  the 
call  of  the  last  trumpet,  shall  awaken  them. 

To  do  away  this  delusion,  we  shall  advert 
to  two  leading  points  of  distinction  between 
the  judgment  of  men  and  that  of  God.  There 
is  a  distinction  founded  upon  the  claims  which 
God  has  a  right  to  prefer  against  us,  when  corn- 
pared  with  the  claims  which  our  fellow-men 
have  a  right  to  prefer  against  us ; — and  there  is 
a  distinction  founded  upon  that  clearer  and 
more  elevated  sense  which  God  has  of  that 
holiness  without  which  no  man  shall  see  his 
face,  of  that  moral  worth  without  which  we  are 
utterly  unfit  for  the  society  of  heaven. 

The  people  around  me  have  no  right  to  com- 
plain, if  I  give  to  every  man  his  own;  or,  in  other 
words,  if  I  am  true  to  all  my  promises,  and  faith- 
ful to  all  my  bargains ;  and  if  what  I  claim  as  jus- 
tice to  myself,  I  most  scrupulously  render  to 


112  SERMON  V. 

others,  when  they  are  in  like  circumstances  with 
myself.  Now^,  let  me  do  all  this,  and  I  earn 
amongst  my  fellows,  the  character  of  a  man  of 
honour  and  of  equity.  Did  I  live  with  such  a  cha- 
racter in  an  unfallen  world,  these  virtues  w  ould 
not  at  all  signalize  me,  though  the  opposite  vices 
would  mark  me  out  for  universal  surprise  and 
indignation.  But  it  so  happens  that  I  live  in 
a  world  full  of  corruption,  where  deceit  and 
dishonesty  are  common ; — where,  though  the 
higher  degrees  of  them  are  spoken  of  with  ab- 
horrence, the  lower  degrees  of  them  are  looked 
at  with  a  very  general  connivance ; — w  here  the 
inflexibility  of  a  truth  that  knows  not  one  art  of 
concealment,  and  the  delicacy  of  an  honour 
that  was  never  tainted,  w  ould  greatly  signalize 
me  ; — and  thus  it  is,  that  though  I  went  not  be- 
yond the  strict  requirements  of  integrity,  yet 
by  my  nice  and  unvarying  fulfilment  of  them, 
should  I  rise  above  the  ordinary  level  of  human 
reputation,  and  be  rewarded  by  the  most  flat- 
tering distinctions  of  human  applause. 

But  again,  1  may  in  fact  give  to  others  more 
than  their  own  ;  and  in  so  doing  I  may  earn  the 
credit  of  other  virtues.  I  may  gather  an  addi-i 
tional  lustre  around  my  character,  and  collect 
from  those  around  me  the  tribute  of  a  still 
louder  and  more  rapturous  approbation.  I 
may  have  a  heart  constitutionally  framed  to  the 
feeling  and  the  exercise  of  compassion.  I  may 
scatter  on  every  side  of  me  the  treasures  of 
beneficence.  I  may  have  an  eye  for  pity,  and  a 


SERMON  V.  113 

hand  open  as  day  for  melting  charity.  I  may 
lay  aside  a  large  proportion  of  my  wealth  to 
the  service  of  others, — and  what  with  a  bosom 
open  to  ev^ery  impulse  of  pity,  and  with  an 
eye  ever  lighted  up  by  the  smile  of  courteous- 
ness,  and  with  a  ready  ear  to  all  that  is  offered 
in  the  shape  of  cojuplaint  or  supplication,  I 
may  not  go  beyond  the  demands  of  others,  but 
I  may  go  greatly  beyond  all  that  they  have  a 
right  to  demand, — and  if  I  signalized  myself  by 
rendering  faithfully  to  every  man  his  due,— 
still  more  shall  I  signalize  myself  by  a  kindness 
that  is  never  weary,  by  a  liberality  that  never 
is  exhausted. 

Now,  we  need  not  offer  to  assign  the  precise 
degree  to  which  a  man  must  carry  the  exercise 
of  these  gratuitous  virtues,  ere  he  can  obtain 
for  them  the  good  will,  and  the  good  opinion 
of  society.  We  need  not  say  by  how  small  a 
fraction  of  his  income,  he  may  thus  purchase 
the  homage  of  his  acquaintances, — at  how  easy 
a  rate  he  may  send  away  one  person  delighted 
by  his  affability  ;  or  another  by  the  hospitality 
of  his  reception;  or  a  third  by  the  rendering  of 
a  personal  service ;  or  a  fourth  by  the  direct 
conveyance  of  A  present, — or,  finally,  for  what 
expense  he  may  surround  himself  by  the  grati- 
tude of  many  poor,  and  the  blessings  and  the 
prayers  of  many  cottages.  We  cannot  bring 
forward  any  rigid  computation  of  this  matter. 
But  we  appeal  to  the  experience  of  your  own 
history,  and  to  your  observation  of  others,  if  a 
1^ 


114  SERMON  V. 

man  might  not,  without  any  painful,  or  any 
sensible  surrender  of  enjoyment  at  all,  stand  out 
to  the  eye  of  others  in  a  blaze  of  moral  reputa- 
tion— if  the  substantial  citizen  might  not,  on 
the  convivialities  of  friendship,  be  indulging  his 
own  taste,  and  at  the  very  time  be  securing 
from  his  pleased  and  satisfied  guests,  the  attes- 
tations of  their  cordiality — if  the  man  of  busi- 
ness might  not  be  nobly  generous  to  his  friends 
in  adversity,  and  at  the  same  time  be  running 
one  unvaried  career  of  accumulation — if  the 
man  of  society  might  not  be  charming  every 
acquaintance  by  the  truth  and  the  tenderness 
of  his  expressions,  and  at  the  same  time,  instead 
of  impairing,  be  heightening  his  share  of  that 
felicity,  vvliich  the  Author  of  our  being  has  an- 
nexed to  human  intercourse — if  a  thousand 
little  acts  of  accommodation  from  one  neighbour 
to  another,  might  not  svrell  the  tide  of  praise 
and  of  popularity,  and  yet,  as  ample  a  remain-r 
der  of  pleasurable  feeling  be  left  to  each  as  be- 
fore.— And  even  when  the  sacrifice  is  more 
painful,  and  the  generosity  more  romantic,  and 
man  can  appeal  to  some  mighty  reduction  of 
wealth  as  the  measure  of  his  beneficence  to 
others,  might  it  not  be  said  of  him,  if  the  life 
be  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than 
raiment,  that  still  there  is  left  to  him  more 
than  he  can  possibly  surrender?  that,  though  he 
strip  himself  of  all  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
there  remains  to  him  that,  without  which  all  is 
nothingness, — that,  a  breathing  and  a  conscious 


8EIIM0N  V.  115 

man,  he  still  treads  on  the  face  of  our  world, 
and  bears  his  part  in  that  universe  of  life,  where 
the  unfailing  compassion  of  God  still  con- 
tinues to  uphold  him, — that,  instead  of  lying 
wrapt  in  the  insensibility  of  an  eternal  grave, 
he  has  all  the  images  of  a  waking  existence 
around  him,  and  all  the  glories  of  immortality 
before  him, — that,  instead  of  being  withered  to 
a  thing  of  nought,  and  gone  to  that  dark  and 
hidden  land,  where  all  is  silence  and  deep  an- 
nihilation, a  thousand  avenues  of  enjoyment 
are  still  open  to  him,  and  the  promise  of  a  daily 
provision  is  still  made  sure,  and  he  is  free  to  all 
the  common  blessings  of  nature,  and  he  is  freer 
still  to  all  the  consolations,  and  to  all  the  pri~ 
vileges  of  the  gospel. 

Thus  it  appears  that  after  I  have  fultilled  all 
the  claims  of  men,  and  men  are  satisfied, — that 
after  having  gone,  in  the  exercise  of  liberality, 
beyond  these  claims,  and  men  are  filled  with 
delight  and  admiration, — that  after,  on  the 
footing  of  equal  and  independent  rights,  I  have 
come  into  judgment  with  my  fellows,  and  they 
have  awarded  to  me  the  tribute  of  their  most 
honourable  testimony,  the  footing  on  which  1 
stand  with  God  still  remains  to  be  attended  to> 
and  his  claims  still  remain  to  be  adjusted, — 
and  the  mighty  account  still  lies  uncancelled 
between  the  creature  and  the  Creator, — be- 
tween the  man  who,  in  reference  to  his  neigh- 
bours, can  say,  I  give  every  one  his  own,  and 
out  of  my  own  [expatiate   in   act=;  of  tender- 


lia  SERMON  V. 

ness  and  generosity  amongst  them,  and  the 
God  who  can  say,  You  have  nothing  that  you 
did  not  receive,  and  all  you  ever  gave  is  out  ot 
the  ability  which  I  have  conferred  upon  you, 
and  this  w  ealth  is  not  your  ow  n,  but  his  who 
bestowed  it,  and  who  now  calls  upon  you  to  ren- 
der an  account  of  your  stewardship,— between 
the  man,  w  ho  has  purchased  by  a  fraction  of  his 
property,  the  good  will  of  his  acquaintances^ 
and  the  God  who  asserts  his  right  to  have  every 
fraction  of  it  turned  into  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude, and  devoted  to  his  glory, — between  the 
man  w  ho  holds  up  his  head  in  society,  because 
his  justice,  and  the  ministrations  of  his  liberali- 
ty, have  distinguished  him,  and  the  God  who 
demands  the  returns  of  duty  and  of  acknow- 
ledgment, for  giving  him  the  fund  of  these 
ministrations,  and  for  giving  what  no  money 
can  purchase, — for  putting  the  principle  of  life 
into  his  bosom, — for  furnishing  him  with  all  his 
senses,  and,  through  these  inlets  of  communica- 
tion, giving  him  a  part,  and  a  property,  in  all 
that  is  around  him, — for  sustaining  him  in  all 
Ihe  elements  of  his  being,  and  conferring  upon 
him  ail  his  capacities,  and  all  his  joys. 

Now,  what  we  wish  you  to  feel  is,  that  the 
judgment  of  men  may  be  upon  your  side,  and 
the  judgment  of  God  be  most  righteously 
against  you — that,  while  from  the  one  nothing 
is  heard  but  admiration  and  gratitude,  from  the 
other,  there  may  be  such  a  charge  of  sinfulness, 
aSj  when  set  in  order  before  your  eye,  will  con- 


SERMON  V  117 

vince  jou,  that  he  by  whom  you  consist,  is 
defrauded  of  all  his  offerings, — that,  while  all  the 
common  honesties  and  Immanities  of  social  life, 
arc  acquitted  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  others, 
and  to  the  entire  purity  of  your  own  reputation 
in  the  world,  your  whole  heart  and  conduct 
may  be  utterly  pervaded  by  the  habit  of  ungod- 
liness,— that,  while  not  one  claim  which  your 
neighbours  can  prefer,  is  not  met  most  readily, 
and  discharged  most  honourably,  the  great 
claims  of  the  Creator,  over  those  whom  he  has 
formed,  may  lie  altogether  unheeded ;  and  he, 
your  constant  benefactor,  be  not  loved, — and 
he,  your  constant  preserver,  be  not  depended 
on,~ and  he,  your  most  legitimate  sovereign, 
be  not  obeyed, — and  he,  the  unseen  Spirit,  who 
pervades  all,  and  upholds  all,  be  neither  wor- 
shipped in  spirit  and  in  truth,  nor  vested. with 
the  hold  of  a  rightful  supremacy  over  your  re- 
bellious affections. 

God  is  not  man :  nor  can  vve  measure  what 
is  due  to  him,  by  what  is  due  to  our  fellows  in 
society.  He  made  us,  and  he  upholds  us,  and 
at  his  will  the  life  which  is  in  us,  will,  like  the 
expiring  vapour,  pass  away;  and  the  taberna- 
cle of  the  body,  that  curious  frame-work  which 
man  thinks  he  can  move  at  his  own  pleasure, 
when  it  is  only  in  God  that  he  moves,  as  well 
as  lives,  and  has  his  being,  will,  when  abandon- 
ed by  its  spirit,  mix  with  the  dust  out  of  which 
it  was  formed,  and  enter  agani  into  the  uncon- 
scious glebe  from  which  it  was  taken.     It  was, 


118  SERiMON  V. 

indeed,  a  wondrous  preferment  for  unshapen 
clay  to  be  wrought  into  so  fine  an  organic  struc- 
ture, but  not  more  wondrous  surely  than  that  the 
soul  which  animates  it  should  have  been  creat- 
ed out  of  nothing ;  and  what  shall  we  say,  if 
the  compound  being  so  originated,  and  so  sus- 
tained, and  depending  on  the  will  of  another  for 
every  moment  of  his  continuance,  is  found  to 
spurn  the  thought  of  God,  in  distaste  and  disaf- 
fection away  from  him?  When  the  spirit  returns 
to  him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne;  when  the 
question  is  put,  Amid  all  the  multitude  of  your 
doings  in  the  world,  what  have  you  done  unto 
me?  When  the  rightful  ascendency  of  his 
claims  over  every  movement  of  the  creature  is 
made  manifest  by  him  who  judgeth  righteously; 
when  the  high  but  just  pretensions  of  all  things 
being  done  to  his  glory;  of  the  entire  heart  be- 
ing consecrated  in  everyone  of  its  regards  to  his 
person  and  character;  of  the  whole  man  being- 
set  apart  to  his  service,  and  every  compromise 
being  done  away,  between  the  world  on  the  one 
hand,  and  that  Being  on  the  other,  who  is  jea- 
lous of  his  honour : — when  these  high  preten- 
sions are  set  up  and  brought  into  comparison 
with  the  character  and  the  conduct  of  any  one 
of  us,  and  it  be  inquired  in  how  far  we  have 
rendered  unto  God  the  ever-breathing  grati- 
tude that  is  due  to  him,  and  that  obedience 
which  we  should  feel  at  all  times  to  be  our 
task  and  our  obligation;  how  shall  we  fare  in 
that  great  day  of  examination,  if  it  be  found 


SERMON  V.  119 

that  this  has  not  been  the  tendency  of  our  na- 
ture at  all  ?  and  when  he  who  is  not  a  man 
shall  thus  enter  into  judgment  with  us,  how 
shall  we  be  able  to  stand  ? 

Amid  all  the  praise  we  give  and  receive  from 
each  other,  we  may  have  no  claims  to  that  sub- 
stantial praise  which  cometh  from  God  only. 
Men  may  be  satisfied,  but  it  followeth  not  that 
God  is  satisfied.  Under  a  ruinous  delusion 
upon  this  subject,  we  may  fancy  ourselves  to 
be  rich,  and  have  need  of  nothing,  while,  in 
fact;  we  are  naked,  and  destitute,  and  bhnd, 
and  miserable.  And  thus  it  is,  that  there  is  a 
morality  of  this  world,  which  stands  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  humbling  representations  of 
the  Gospel ;  which  cannot  comprehend  what  it 
means  by  the  utter  worthlessness  and  depravity 
of  our  nature ;  which  passionately  repels  this 
statement,  and  that  too  on  its  own  consciousness 
of  attainments  superior  to  those  of  the  sordid, 
and  the  profligate,  and  the  dishonourable ;  and 
is  fortified  in  its  resistance  to  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus,  by  the  flattering  testimonials  which  it 
gathers  to  its  respectability  and  its  worth  from 
the  various  quarters  of  human  society. 

A  just  sense  of  the  extent  of  claim  which 
God  has  upon  his  own  creatures,  would  lay  open 
this  hiding-place  of  security;  would  lead  us  to 
see,  that  to  do  some  things  for  our  neighbours,  is 
not  the  same  with  doing  all  things  for  our  Ma- 
ker ;  that  a  natural  principle  of  honesty  to  man, 
is  altogether  distinct  from  a  principle  of  entire 


120  SERMON  V. 

devotedness  to  God ;  that  the  tithe  which  we 
bestow  upon  others  is  not  an  equivalent  for  a  to- 
tal dedication  unto  God  of  ourselves,  and  of  all 
which  belongs  to  us;  that  we  may  present  those 
around  us  with  many  an  offering  of  kindness,  and 
not  present  our  bodies  a  living  sacrifice  to  God, 
which  is  our  reasonable  service ;  that  we  may 
earn  a  cheap  and  easy  credit  for  such  virtues  as 
will  satisfy  the  world,  and  be  utter  strangers  to 
the  self-denial,  and  the  spirituality,and  the  morti- 
fication, of  every  earthly  desire,  and  the  affection 
for  the  things  that  are  above  ; — all  of  which 
graces  enter  as  essential  ingredients  into  the 
sanctification  of  the  gospel. 

But  this  leads  us  to  the  second  point  of  dis- 
tinction between  the  judgment  of  man  and 
that  of  God, — even  his  clearer  and  more  ele- 
vated sense  of  that  holiness  without  which  no 
man  shall  see  his  face,  and  of  that  moral  worth 
without  which  we  are  utterly  unfit  for  the 
society  of  heaven. 

Man's  sense  of  the  right  and  the  wrong  may 
be  clear  and  intelligent  enough,  in  so  far  as  that 
part  of  character  is  concerned  which  renders 
us  fit  for  the  society  of  earth.  Those  virtues, 
without  which  a  community  could  not  be  held 
together,  are  both  urgently  demanded  by  that 
community,  and  highly  appreciated  by  it.  The 
morality  of  our  earthly  life,  is  a  morality  which 
is  in  direct  subservience  to  our  earthly  accom- 
modation; and  seeingthatecjuity.and  humanity, 
and  civility,  are  in  such  visible  and  immediate 


SERMON  V.  121 

Connexion  with  all  the  security,  and  all  the  en- 
joyment which  they  spread  around  them,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  they  should  throw 
over  the  character  of  him  by  whom  they  are 
exhibited,  the  lustre  .of  a  grateful  and  a  superior 
estimation.  And  thus  it  is,  that  even  without 
any  very  nice  or  exquisite  refinement  of  these 
virtues,  many  an  ordinary  characterwillpass; — 
and  should  that  character  be  deformed  by  the 
levities,  or  even  by  the  profligacies  of  intem- 
perance, he  who  sustains  it  may  still  bear  his 
part  among  the  good  men  of  society, — and  keep 
away  from  it  all  that  malignity,  and  all  that  dis- 
honesty, which  have  a  disturbing  effect  on  the 
enjoyments  of  others,  and  these  others  will  still 
retain  their  kindliness  for  the  good-humoured 
convivialist, — and  he  will  be  suffered  to  retain 
his  own  taste,  and  his  own  peculiarities;  and, 
though  it  may  be  true,  that  chastity,  and  self- 
control,  and  the  severer  virtues  of  personal  dis- 
cipline and  restraint,  would  in  fact  give  a  far 
more  happy  and  healthful  tone  to  society  than 
at  present  it  possesses,  yet  this  influence  is  not 
so  conspicuous,  and  heedless  men  do  not  look 
so  far;  and  therefore  it  is,  that  in  spite  of  his 
many  outward  and  positive  transgressions  of 
the  divine  law,  many  an  individual  can  be  re- 
ferred to,  who,  with  his  average  share  of  the  irj- 
tegrities  and  the  sensibilities  of  social  life,  has 
stamped  upon  him  the  currency  of  a  very  fair 
every-day  character,  who  moves  among  bis  fel- 
lows without  disgrace,  and  meets  ^vith  accept- 

16 


122  SERMON  V. 

ance  throughout  the  general  run  of  this  world's 
companies. 

If  such  a  measure  of  indulgence  be  extended 
to  the  very  glaring  iniquities  of  the  outer  man, 
let  us  not  wonder  though  the  errors  of  the 
heart,  the  moral  diseases  of  the  spirit,  the  dis- 
organization of  the  inner  man,  with  its  turbu- 
lent passions,  and  its  worldly  affections,  and  its 
utter  deadness  to  the  consideration  of  an  over- 
ruling God,  should  find  a  very  general  indul- 
gence among  our  brethren  of  the  species. 
Bring  a  man  to  sit  in  judgment  over  the  de- 
pravities of  our  common  nature,  and  unless  these 
depravities  are  obviously  pointed  against  the 
temporal  good  of  society,  what  can  we  expect, 
but  that  he  will  connive  at  the  infirmities  of 
which  he  feels  himself  to  be  so  large  and  so 
habitual  a  partaker  ?  What  can  we  expect  but 
that  his  moral  sense,  clouded  as  it  is  against  the 
discernment  of  his  own  exceeding  turpitude, 
will  also  perceive  but  dimly,  and  feel  but  ob- 
tusely, a  similar  turpitude  in  the  character  of 
others?  What  else  can  we  look  for,  than  that 
the  man  who  fires  so  promptly  on  the  reception 
of  an  injury,  will  tolerate  in  his  fellow  all  the 
vindictive  propensities  ? — or,  that  the  man  who 
feels  not  in  his  bosom  a  single  movement  of 
principle  or  of  tenderness  towards  God,  will  to- 
lerate in  another  an  equally  entire  habit  of  un- 
godliness?— or, that  the  man  who  surrenders  him- 
self to  the  temptations  of  voluptuousness,  will 
perceive  no  enormity  of  character  at  all  in  the 


SERMON  V.  ]23 

unrestrained  dissipations  of  an  acquaintance.-^  — 
And,  in  a  word,  when  [  see  a  man  whose  rights 
I  have  never  invaded,  who  has  no  complaint  of 
personal  wronger  provocation  to  allege  against 
me,  and  who  shares  equally  with  myself  in  na- 
ture's blindness  and  nature's  propensities,  1  will 
not  be  afraid  of  entering  into  judgment  with 
him; — nor  shall  I  stand  in  awe  of  any  penetrating 
glance  from  his  eye,  of  any  indignant  remon- 
strance from  his  offended  sense  of  what  is  right- 
eous, though  there  be  made  bare  to  his  inspec- 
tion all  my  devotedness  to  the  world,  and  all 
my  proud  disdain  at  the  insolence  of  others, 
and  all  my  anger  at  the  sufferings  of  injustice, 
and  all  my  indifTerence  to  the  God  who  formed 
me,  and  all  those  secrecies  of  an  unholy  and  an 
unheavenly  character,  which  are  to  be  brought 
out  into  full  manifestation  on  the  great  day  of 
the  winding  up  of  this  world's  history. 

It  is  a  very  capital  delusion  that  God  is  like 
unto  man, — "  Thou  thoughtest  that  I  was  alto- 
gether such  a  one  as  thyself;  but  I  will  reprove 
thee,  and  set  thy  sins  in  order  before  thine  eyes. 
Now  consider  this,  ye  that  forget  God,  lest  1 
tear  you  in  pieces,  and  there  be  none  to  de- 
liver." 

Man  and  man  may  come  together  in  judg- 
ment, and  retire  from  each  other  in  mutual 
complacency.  But  when  man  and  God  thus 
come  together,  ther^  is  another  principle,  and 
another  standard  of  examination.  There  is  a 
claim  of  justice  on  the  part  of  the  Creator,  to- 


124  SERMON  V. 

tally  distinct  trom  any  claim  Avhich  a  fellow 
creature  can  prefer, — and  while  the  one  will 
tolerate  all  that  is  consistent  with  the  economy 
and  the  interest  of  the  society  upon  earth,  the 
other  can  tolerate  nothing  that  is  inconsistent 
with    the  economy  and  the  character  of  the 
society  in    heaven.     God    made    us  for  eter- 
nity.    He  designed  us  to  be  the  members  of  a 
family  which  never  separates,  and  over  which 
he  himself  presides  in  the  visible  glory  of  all 
that  worth,  and  of  all  that  moral  excellence, 
which  belong  to  him.     He  formed  us  at  first 
after  his  own  likeness ;  and  ere  we  can  be  re- 
admitted   into  that  paradise  from   which  we 
have  been  exiled,  we   must  be  created  anew 
in  the  image  of  God.     These  spirits  must  be 
made  perfect,  and  every  taint  of  selfishness  and 
impurity   be   done   away  from  them.     Heaven 
is  the  place  into  which  nothing  that  is  up.clean 
or  unholy  can  enter ;  and  wc  are  not  preparing 
for  our  inheritance  there,  unless  there  be  gath- 
ering upon  us  here,  the  lineaments  of  a  celes- 
tial character    Now,  a  man  may  be  accomplish- 
ed in  the  moralities  of  civil  and  of  social  life, 
without  so  much  as  the  semblance  of  such  a 
character  resting  upon  him.     He  may  have  no 
share  whatsoever  in  the  tastes,  or  in  the  enjov- 
ments,  or  in  the  affections  of  paradise.    There 
might  not  be  a  single  trace  of  the  mark  of  the 
Lamb    of  God    upon  his  forehead.     He  who 
ponders  so  intelligently  the  secrets  of  the  heart, 
may  be  able  to  discover  there  no  vestige  of  an} 


SERMON  V.  125 

love  for  himself, — no  sensibility  at  all  to  what 
is  amiable  or  to  what  is  great  in  the  character 
of  the  Godhead, — no  desire  whatever  after  his 
glory, — no  such  feeling  towards  him  who  is  to 
tabernacle  with  men,  as  will  qualify  him  to  bear 
a  joyful  part  in  the  songs,  and  the  praises  of 
that  city  which  has  foundations.  Surrounded  as 
he  is  by  the  perishable  admiration  of  his  fellows, 
he  is  altogether  out  of  affection,  and  out  of  ac- 
quaintance, with  that  Being  with  whom  he  has 
to  do ;  and  it  will  be  found,  on  the  great  day 
of  the  doings,  and  the  deliberations  of  the  judg- 
ment-seat, that  as  he  had  no  relish  for  God  in 
time,  so  is  he  utterly  unlit  for  his  presence,  or 
for  his  friendship  in  eternity. 

It  is  said  of  God,  that  he  created  man  after 
his  own  image,  and  it  was  upon  losing  this 
image  that  he  was  cast  out  of  paradise  :  and  ere 
he  can  be  again  admitted,  the  image  that  has 
been  lost  must  again  be  formed  on  him.  The 
grand  qualification  for  the  society  of  heaven  is, 
that  each  of  its  members  be  like  unto  God. 
In  the  selfish  and  sensual  society  of  earth, 
there  is  many  a  feature  of  resemblance  to  the 
Godhead  that  is  most  readily  dispensed  with ; 
and  many  an  individual  here  obtains  ap- 
plause and  toleration  among  his  fellows,  though 
there  is  not  one  attribute  of  the  saintly  character 
belonging  to  him.  Let  him  only  fulfil  the  stipu- 
lations of  integrity,  and  smile  benignity  upon 
his  friends,  and  render  the  alacrity  of  willing 
and  valuable  services  to  those  who  have  never 


126  SERMON  V. 

offended  him,  and  on  the  strength  of  such  per- 
formances as  these,  may  he  rise  to  a  conspicu- 
ous place  in  the  scale  of  this  world's  reputation. 
But  what  would  have  been  the  sad  event  to  us^ 
had  these  been  the  only  performances  which 
went  to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  Godhead, 
had  he  been  a  God  of  whom  we  could  say  no 
more,  than  that  he  possessed  the  one  attribute 
of  an  unrelenting  justice,  or  even  that  he  went 
beyond  this  attribute,  in  the  exercise  of  kind- 
ness to  those  who  loved  him,  and  in  acts  of 
beneficence  to  those  who  had   never  offended 
him  ?  Do  we  not  owe  our  place  and  our  pro- 
spect to  the  love  of  God  for  his  enemies  ?  Is  it 
not  from  the  riches  of  his  forbearance  and  long- 
suffering,  that  we  draw  all  our  enjoyments  in 
time,  and  all  our  hopes  for  eternity  ?    Is  it  not 
because,  though   grieved  with  sinners  every 
day,  he  still  waitslo  be  gracious ;  that  he  holds 
out  to  us,  his  heedless  and  wayward  children, 
the  beseeching  voice  of  reconciliation ;    and 
puts  on  such  an  aspect  of  tenderness  to  those 
who  have  not  ceased  from  their  birth  to  vex  his 
Holy  Spirit,  and  to  thwart  him  every  hour  by 
the  perverseness  of  their  disobedience  ?  This 
is  the  godlike  attribute  on  which  all  the  pri- 
vileges of  our  fallen  race  are  suspended  ;  and 
yet  against  the  imitation  of  which,  nature,  when 
,  urged  by  the  provocations  of  injustice,  rises  in 
-  such  a  tumult  of  strong  and  impetuous  resist- 
ance.    It  is  through  the  putting  forth  of  this 
attribute,  that  any  redeemed  sinners  are  to  be 


SERMON  V.  127 

found  among  the  other  society  of  heaven ;  but 
into  which  no  member  shall  be  admitted  out  of 
this  corrupt  world,  till  there  be  stamped  and 
realized  on  his  own  person,  that  feature  of  the 
divinity  to  which  he  owes  a  distinction  so  ex- 
alted. And  tell  us,  ye  men  who  are  so  jealous 
of  right  and  of  honour,  who  take  sudden  fire  at 
every  insult,  and  suffer  the  slightest  imagina- 
tion of  another's  contempt,  or  another's  un- 
fairness, to  chase  from  your  bosom  every  feel- 
ing of  complacency ; — ye  men  whom  every  fan- 
cied affront  puts  into  such  a  turbulence  of 
emotion,  and  in  whom  every  fancied  infringe- 
ment stirs  up  the  quick  and  the  resentful  ap- 
petite for  justice — how  will  you  stand  the  ri- 
gorous application  of  that  test  by  which  the 
forgiven  of  God  are  ascertained,  even  that  the 
spirit  of  forgiveness  is  in  them,  and  by  which 
it  will  be  pronounced  whether  you  are  indeed 
the  children  of  the  highest,  and  perfect  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect  ? 

But  we  must  hasten  to  a  close,  and  will  there- 
fore, barely  suggest  some  other  matters  of  self- 
examination.  We  ask  you,  to  think  of  the  fa- 
cility with  which  you  might  obtain  the  appro- 
bation of  men,  without  being  at  all  like  unto 
God  in  the  holiness  of  his  character.  We  ask 
you  to  think  of  the  delight  which  he  takes  in 
the  contemplation  of  what  is  pure,  and  moral, 
and  righteous.  We  ask  you  to  think  how  one 
great  object  of  his  creation,  was  to  diffuse  over\ 
the  face  of  it  a  multiplied  resemblance  of  him- 


128  SERMON  V. 

self,— and  that,  therefore,  however  fit  you  may 
be  for  sustaining  your  part  in  the  ahenated 
community  of  this  world,  you  are  most  as- 
suredly unfit  for  the  great  and  the  general  as- 
sembly of  the  spirits  ofjust  men  made  perfect, 
if  unlike  unto  God  who  is  in  the  midst  of  them, 
you  have  no  congenial  delight  with  the  Father 
of  all,  in  the  contemplation  of  spiritual  excel- 
lence. Now,  are  you  not  blind  to  the  glories 
and  the  perfections  of  that  Being  who  realises 
this  excellence  to  a  degree  that  is  infinite? 
Does  not  the  creature  fill  up  all  your  avenues 
of  enjoyment,  while  the  Creator  is  forgotten  ? 
In  reference  to  God,  is  there  not  an  utter  dull- 
ness and  insensibihty  of  all  your  regards  to 
him  ?  If  thus  blind  to  the  perception  of  that 
supreme  virtue  and  lovliness  which  reside  in 
the  Godhead,  are  you  not,  in  fact,  and  by  na- 
ture an  outcast  fromthe  Godhead?  And  an  out- 
cast will  you  ever  remain,  until  your  character 
be  brought  under  some  mighty  revolutionizing 
influence,  which  is  able  to  shift  the  currency  of 
your  desires,  and  to  over-rule  nature  with  all  her 
obstinate  habits,  aud  all  her  ibnd  and  favourite 
predilections. 

These  are  topics  of  great  weight  and  great 
pregnancy;  but  we  leave  them  to  your  own 
thoughts,  and  only  ask  you  at  present  to  look 
at  the  vivid  illustration  of  them  that  may  be 
gathered  out  of  the  history  of  Job.  In  reference 
to  his  fellows,hecouldmakeatriumphant  appeal 
to  the  honour  and  the  humanity  which  adorn- 


SERMON  V.  129 

ed  him,  he  could  speak  of  the  splendid  career 
ofbeneticence  thai  he  had  run, — and,  in  the  re- 
collection of  the  plaudits  that  had  surrounded 
him,  he  could  boldly  challenge  the  inspection  of 
all  his  neighbours,  and  of  all  his  enemies,  on  the 
whole  tract  of  his  visible  history  in  the  world. 
He  protested  his  innocence  before  them,  and 
even  so  long  as  he  had  only  heard  of  God  by 
the  hearing  of  the  ear,  did  he  address  him  in 
the  language  of  justification.  But  when  God 
at  length  revealed  himself, — when  the  worth 
and  the  majesty  of  the  Eternal  stood  before 
him  in  visible  array, — when  the  actual  presence 
of  h's  Maker  bronc^ht  the  claims  of  his  Maker 
to  bear  impressively  upon  his  conscience,  it 
was  not  merely  the  presence  of  the  power  of 
God  which  overawed  him ;  it  was  the  presence 
of  the  righteousness  of  God  which  convinced 
him, — and  when,  from  the  bright  assemblage 
of  all  that  was  pure,  and  holy,  and  graceful  in 
the  aspect  of  the  Divinity,  he  turned  the  eye 
of  contemplation  downward  upon  himself, — O 
it  is  instructive  to  be  told,  how  the  vaunting 
patriarch  shrunk  into  all  the  depths  of  self- 
abasement  at  so  striking  a  manifestation  ;  and 
how  he  said,  "  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hear* 
ing  of  the  ear,  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee  ; 
wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust 
and  in  ashes." 

It  is  indeed  a  small  matter  to  be  judged  of 
man's  judgment.     He  who  judges  us  is  God. 
From  this  judgment  Ihere  is  no  escape,  and  no 
17 


130  SERMON  V. 

hiding-place.  The  testimony  of  our  fellows 
will  as  little  avail  us  in  the  day  of  judgment,  as 
the  help  of  our  fellows  will  avail  us  in  the  hour 
of  death.  We  may  as  well  think  of  seeking  a  re- 
fuge in  the  applause  of  men,  from  the  condem- 
nation of  God,  as  we  may  think  of  seeking  a 
refuge  in  the  power  or  the  skill  of  men,  from 
the  mandate  of  God,  that  our  breath  shall  de- 
part from  us.  And,  have  you  never  thought, 
when  called  to  the  chamber  of  the  dying  man, — 
when  you  saw  the  warning  of  death  upon  his 
countenance,  and  how  its  symptoms  gathered 
and  grew,  and  got  the  ascendency  over  all  the 
ministrations  of  human  care  and  of  human  ten- 
derness,— when  it  every  day  became  more  vi- 
sible, that  the  patient  was  drawing  to  his  close, 
and  that  nothing  in  the  whole  compass  of  art 
or  any  of  its  resources,  could  stay  the  advances 
of  the  sure  and  the  last  malady, — have  you 
never  thought,  on  seeing  the  bed  of  the  sufferer 
surrounded  by  other  comforters  than  those  of 
the  Patriarch,— when,  from  morning  to  night, 
and  from  night  to  morning,  the  watchful  family 
sat  at  his  couch,  and  guarded  his  broken  slum- 
bers, and  interpreted  all  his  signals,  and  tried 
to  hide  from  his  observation  the  tears  which 
attested  him  to  be  the  kindest  of  parents,— 
when  the  sad  anticipation  spread  its  gloomy 
stillness  over  the  household,  and  even  sent 
forth  an  air  of  seriousness  and  concern  upon  the 
men  of  other  families, — when  you  have  witness- 
ed the  despair  of  friends,  who  could  only  turn 


Sermon  v.  isi 

them  to  cry  at  the  spectacle  of  his  last  agonies, 
and  had  seen  how  little  it  was  that  weeping- 
children  and  inquiring  neighbours  could  do  for 
him, — when  you  have  contrasted  the  unrelent- 
ing necessity  of  the  grave,  with  the  feebleness 
of  every  surrounding  endeavour  to  ward  it,  has 
the  thought  never  entered  within  you  ?  How 
powerless  is  the  desire  of  man  ! — how  sure  and 
how  resistless  is  the  decree  of  God  ! 

And  on  the  day  of  the  second  death,  will  it  be 
found,  that  it  is  not  the  imagination  of  man,  but 
the  sentence  of  God  that  shall  stand.  When  the 
sound  of  the  last  trumpet  awakens  us  from  the 
grave,  and  the  ensigns  of  the  last  day  are  seen 
on  the  canopy  of  heaven,  and  the  tremor  of  the 
dissolving  elements  is  felt  upon  earth,  and  the 
Son  of  God  with  his  mighty  angels  are  placed 
around  the  judgment-seat,  and  the  men  of  all 
ages  and  of  all  nations  are  standing  before  it, 
and  waiting  the  high  decree  of  eternity, — then 
will  it  be  found,  that  as  no  power  of  man  can 
save  his  fellow  from  going  down  to  the  grave 
of  mortality,  so  no  testimony  of  man  can  save 
his  fellow  from  going  down  to  the  pit  of  con- 
demnation. Each  on  that  day  will  mourn 
apart.  Each  of  those  on  the  left  hand,  en- 
grossed by  his  own  separate  contemplation,  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  dark  and  the  louring  fu- 
turity of  his  own  existence,  will  not  have  a 
thought  or  a  sympathy  to  spare  for  those  who 
are  around  him.  Each  of  those  on  the  right 
hand  will  see  and  acquiesce  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  and  be  made  to  acknowledge, 


132  -       SERMON  V. 

that  those  things  which  are  highly  esteemed 
among  men  are  in  his  sight  an  abomination. 
When  the  Judge  and  his  attendants  shall  come 
on  the  high  errand  of  this  world's  destinies, 
the  J  will  come  from  God, — and  the  pure  prin- 
ciple they  shall  bring  along  with  tliem  from  the 
sanctuary  of  heaven,  will  be  the  entire  subor- 
dination of  the  thing  formed  to  him  who  form- 
ed it.  In  that  praise  which  upon  earthly  feel- 
ings the  creatures  offer  one  to  another,  we  be- 
hold no  recognition  of  this  principle  whatever  ; 
and  therefore  it  is,  that  it  is  so  very  different 
from  the  praise  which  cometh  from  God  only. 
And  should  any  one  of  these  creatures  be  made 
on  that  great  day  of  manifestation,  to  see  his 
nakedness,~should  the  question,  what  have  you 
done  unto  me  ?  leave  him  speechless  ;  should  at 
length,  convicted  of  his  utter  rebelliousness 
against  God,  he  try  to  find  among  the  compa- 
nions of  his  pilgrimage,  some  attestation  to  the 
kindliness  that  beamed  from  him  upon  his  fel- 
low mortals  in  the  world, — they  will  not  be  able 
to  hide  him  from  the  coming  wrath.  In  the  face 
of  all  the  tenderness  they  ever  bore  him,  the  se- 
verity of  an  unreconciled  lawgiver  must  have 
upon  him  its  resistless  operation.  They  may 
all  bear  witness  to  the  honour  and  the  gener- 
osity of  his  doings  among  men,  but  there  is  not 
one  of  them  who  can  justify  him  before  God. 
Nor  among  all  those  who  now  yield  him  a  ready 
testimony  on  earth  will  he  find  a  day's-man  be- 
twixt him  and  his  Creator,  who  can  lay  his 
hand  upon  them  both. 


SERMON  VI 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  MEDIATOR  BETWEEN  GOJ> 

AND  MAN. 


Neither  is  there  any  day's-man  betwixt  us  that  might  lay 
his  hand  upon  us  both."  Job  ix.  33 


IV.  The  feeling  of  Job,  at  the  time  of  his  ut- 
tering the  complaint  which  is  recorded  in  the 
verses  before  us,  might  not  have  been  altoge- 
ther free  of  a  reproachful  spirit  towards  those 
friends  who  had  refused  to  advocate  his  cause, 
and  who  had  even  added  bitterness  to  his  dis- 
tress by  their  most  painful  and  unwelcome  argu- 
ments. And  well  may  it  be  our  feeling,  and  that 
too  without  the  presence  of  any  such  ingredient 
along  with  it — that  there  is  not  a  man  upon 
earth  who  can  execute  the  office  of  a  day's-man 
betwixt  us  and  God,— that  taking  the  common 
sense  of  this  term,  there  is  none  who  can  act  as 
an  umpire  between  us  the  children  of  ungodH- 
aess,  and  the  Lawgiver,  whom  we  have  so  deep- 
ly offended  ;  or  taking  up  the  term  that  occurs 
m   the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Bible,  that 


134  SERMON  VI. 

amongst  all  our  brethren  of  the  species,  not  an 
individual  is  to  be  found  who,  standing  in  the 
place  of  a  mediator,  can  lay  his  hand  upon  us 
both.  It  is  indeed  very  possible,  that  all  this 
may  carry  the  understanding,  and  at  the  same 
time  have  all  the  inefficiency  of  a  cold  and  gen- 
eral speculation.  But  should  the  Spirit,  whose 
office  it  is  to  convince  us  of  sin,  lend  the  pow- 
er of  his  demonstration  to  the  argument, — 
should  he  divide  asunder  our  thoughts,  and  en- 
able us  to  see  that,  with  the  goodly  semblance 
of  what  is  fair  and  estimable  in  the  sight  of 
man,  all  within  us  is  defection  from  the  princi- 
ple of  loyalty  to  God, — that  while  we  yield  a 
duty  as  the  members  of  society,  the  duty  that 
lies  upon  us,  as  the  creatures  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  is,  in  respect  of  the  spirit  of  allegiance 
which  gives  it  all  its  value,  fallen  away  from,  by 
every  one  of  us, — should  this  conviction  cleave 
to  us  like  an  arrow  sticking  fast,  and  w^ork  its 
legitimate  influence,  in  causing  us  to  feel  all  the 
worthlessness  of  our  characters,  and  all  the 
need  and  danger  of  our  circumstances, — then 
would  the  urgency  of  the  case  be  felt  as  well  as 
understood  by  us, — nor  should  we  be  long  of 
pressing  the  inquiry  of  where  is  the  day's- 
man  betwixt  us  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon 
us  both  ? 

And,  in  fact,  by  putting  the  Mediator  away 
from  you, — by  reckoning  on  a  state  of  safety 
and  acceptance  without  him,  what  is  the 
ground  upon  which,  in  reference  to  God,  you 


SERMON  VI.  135 

actually  put  yourselves  ?  We  speak  not  at  pre- 
sent of  the  danger  of  persisting  in  such  an  atti- 
tude of  independence, — of  its  being  one  of 
those  refuges  of  treachery  in  which  the  good 
man  of  the  world  is  often  to  be  found,— of  its 
being  a  state  wherein  peace,  when  there  is  no 
peace,  lulls  him  by  its  flatteries  into  a  deceitful 
repose.  We  are  not  at  present  saying  how  ruin- 
ous it  is  to  rest  a  security  upon  an  imposing  exte- 
rior, when  in  fact  the  heart  is  not  right  in  the 
sight  of  God,  and  while  the  reproving  eye  of  him, 
who  judgeth  not  as  man  judgeth,  is  upon  him, 
or  how  poisonous  is  the  unction  that  comes 
upon  the  soul  from  those  praises  which  upon  the 
mere  exhibition  of  the  social  virtues,  are  rung 
and  circulated  through  society.  But,  in  addition 
to  the  danger,  let  us  insist  upon  the  guilt  of  thus 
casting  the  offered  Mediator  away  from  us.  It 
implies,  in  the  most  direct  possible  way,  a  senti- 
ment of  the  sufficiency  of  our  own  righteous- 
ness. It  is  expressly  saying  of  our  obedience, 
that  it  is  good  enough  for  God.  It  is  presump- 
tuously thinking  that  what  pleases  the  world 
may  please  the  Maker  of  it,  even  though 
he  himself  has  declared  it  to  be  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness.  There  is  an  aggrava- 
tion you  will  perceive  in  all  this  which  goes 
beyond  the  simple  infraction  of  the  command- 
ment. It  is,  after  the  infraction  of  it,  challeng- 
ing for  some  remainder  or  for  some  semblance 
of  conformity,  the  reward  and  approbation  of 
the  God  wliose  law  we  have  dishonoured.     Tt 


136  SERMON  VL 

is,  after  we  have  braved  the  attribute  of  the  Ah 
mighty's  justice,  by  incurring  its  condemnation, 
making  an  attempt  upon  the  attribute  itself,  by 
bringing  it  down  to  the  standard  of  a  polhited 
obedience.  It  is,  after  insulting  the  throne 
of  God's  righteousness,  embarking  in  the  still 
deadlier  enterprise  of  demolishing  all  the  stabi- 
lities which  guard  it;  and  spoiling  it  of  that  truth 
which  has  pronounced  a  curse  on  the  children 
of  iniquity, — of  that  holiness  which  cannot  dwell 
with  evil, — of  that  unchangeableness  which  will 
admit  of  no  compromise  with  sinners  that  can 
violate  the  honours  of  the  Godhead,  or  weaken 
the  authority  of  his  government  over  the  uni- 
verse that  he  has  formed.  It  is  laying  those 
paltry  accomplishments  which  give  you  a  place 
of  distinction  among  your  fellows,  before  that 
God  of  whose  throne  justice  and  judgment  are 
the  habitation,  and  calling  upon  him  to  connive 
at  all  that  you  want,  and  to  look  with  complacen- 
cy on  all  that  you  possess.  It  is  to  bring  to  the 
bar  of  judgment  the  poor  and  the  starving  sam- 
ples of  virtue  which  are  current  enough  in  a  world 
broken  loose  from  its  communion  with  God,  and 
to  defy  the  inspection  upon  them  of  God's  eter- 
nal Son,  and  of  the  angels  he  brings  along  with 
him  to  witness  the  righteousness  of  his  decisions. 
Sin  has  indeed  been  the  ruin  of  our  nature — but 
this  refusal  of  the  Saviour  of  sinners  lands  them 
in  a  perdition  still  deeper  and  more  irrecover- 
able. It  is  blindness  to  the  enormity  of  sin.  It 
is  equivalent  to  a  formally  announced  senti- 


SERMON  VI.  137 

ment  on  your  part  that  jour  performances,  sin- 
ful as  they  are,  and  polluted  as  they  are,  are 
good  enough  for  heaven.  It  is  just  saying  of 
the  offered  Saviour,  that  you  do  not  see  the 
use  of  him.  It  is  a  provoking  contempt  of 
mercy;  and  causing  the  measure  of  ordinary 
guilt  to  overflow,  by  heaping  the  additional 
blasphemy  upon  it,  of  calling  upon  God  to  ho- 
nour it  by  his  rewards,  and  to  look  to  it  with 
the  complacency  of  his  approbation. 

We  cannot,  then,  we  cannot  draw  near  unto 
God,  by  a  direct  or  independent  approach  to 
him.  And  who,  in  these  circumstances,  is  fit  to 
be  the  day's-man  betwixt  you.^^  There  is  not  a 
fellow-mortal  from  Adam  downward,  who  has 
not  sins  of  his  own  to  answer  for.  There  is  not 
one  of  them  who  has  not  the  sentence  of  guilt 
inscribed  upon  his  own  forehead, and  who  is  not 
arrested  by  the  same  unsealed  barrier  which 
keeps  you  at  an  inaccessible  distance  fromGod, 
There  is  not  one  of  them  whose  entrance  into 
the  holiest  of  all  would  not  inflict  on  it  as  great 
a  profanation,  as  if  any  of  you  were  to  present 
yourselves  before  him,  who  dwelleth  there, 
without  a  Mediator.  There  lieth  a  great  gulf 
between  God  and  the  whole  of  this  alienated 
world :  and  after  looking  round  amongst  all  the 
men  of  all  its  generations,  we  may  say,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  text,  that  there  is  not  a  day's-man 
betwixt  us  who  can  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both. 

What  we  aim  at,  as  the  effect  of  all  these  ob- 
servations, is,  that  you  should  feel  your  only  se- 
18 


138  SERMON  VI. 

curitj  to  be  in  the  revealed  and  the  offered 
Mediator ;  that  you  should  seek  to  him  as  your 
only  effectual  hiding-place ;  and  who  alone,  in 
the  whole  range  of  universal  being,  is  able  to  lay 
his  hand  upon  you,  and  shield  you  from  the  jus- 
tice of  the  Almighty,  and  to  lay  his  hand  upon 
God,  and  stay  the  fury  of  the  avenger.    By  him 
the  deep  atonement  has  been  rendered.  By  him 
the  mystery  has  been  accomplished,  which  an- 
gels desired  to  look  into.    By  him  such  a  sacri- 
fice for  sin  has  been  offered,  as  that,  in  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  sinner,  every  attribute  of  the 
Divinity  is  exalted  ;  and  the  throne  of  the  Ma- 
jesty in  the  heavens, though  turned  into  a  throne 
of  grace,  is  still  upheld  in  all  its  firmness,  and 
in  all  its  glory.     Through  the  unchangeable 
priesthood  of  Christ,  the  vilest  of  sinners  may 
draw  ni«;h,  and  receive  of  that  mercy  which  has 
met  with  truth,  and  of  that  peace  which  is  in 
close  alliance  with  righteousness ;  and  without 
one  perfection  of  the  Godhead  being  surren- 
dered by  this  act  of  forgiveness,  all  are  made 
to  receive  a  higher  and  more  wondrous  mani- 
festation ;  for  though  he  will  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty,  yet  there  is  no  place  for  vengeance* 
when  all  their  guilt  is  cleared  away  by  the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant ;  and  though 
he  executeth  justice  upon  the  earth,  yet  he  can 
be  just  while  the  justiner  of  them  who  believe 
in  Jesus. 

The  work  of  our  redemption  is  every  where 
spoken  of  as  an  achievement  of  strength — as 


SERMON  VI.  139 

done  by  the  putting  forth  of  mighty  energies— 
as  the  work  of  one  who,  travaihng  in  his  own 
unaided  greatness,  had  to  tread  the  wine-press 
alone ;  and  who,  when  of  the  people  there  was 
none  to  help  him,  did  by  his  own  arm  bring 
unto  him  salvation.  To  move  aside  the  ob- 
stacle which  beset  the  path  of  acceptance; 
to  reinstate  the  guilty  into  favour  with  the  of- 
fended and  unchangeable  Lawgiver;  to  avert 
from  them  the  execution  of  that  sentence  to 
which  there  were  staked  the  truth  and  justice 
of  the  Divinity ;  to  work  out  a  pardon  for  the 
disobedient,  and  at  the  same  time  to  uphold  in 
all  their  strength  the  pillars  of  that  throne 
which  they  had  insulted ;  to  intercept  the  de- 
tied  penalties  of  the  law,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  magnify  it,  and  to  make  it  honourable ;  thus 
to  bend,  as  it  were,  the  holy  and  everlasting 
attributes  of  God,  and  in  doing  so,  to  pour 
over  them  the  lustre  of  a  high  and  awful 
vindication, — this  was  an  enterprise  of  such 
height,  and  depth,  and  breadth,  and  length, 
as  no  created  being  could  fulfil,  and  which 
called  forth  the  might  and  the  counsel  of  him 
who  is  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of 
God. 

When  no  man  could  redeem  his  neighbour 
from  the  grave, — God  himself  found  out  a  ran- 
som. When  not  one  of  the  beings  whom  he  had 
formed  could  offer  an  adequate  expiation, — did 
the  Lord  of  hosts  awaken  the  sword  of  ven- 
geance against  his  fellow.  When  there  was  no 


140  SERMON  Vi. 

tnessenger  among  the  angels  who  surrounded 
his  throne,  that  could  both  proclaim  and  pur- 
chase peace  for  a  guilty  world, — did  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh  descend  in  shrouded  majesty 
amongst  our  earthly  tabernacles,  and  pour  out 
his  soul  unto  the  death  for  us,  and  purchase 
the  church  by  his  own  blood,  and  bursting  away 
from  the  grave  which  could  not  hold  him,  as» 
cend  to  the  throne  of  his  appointed  mediator- 
ship  ;  and  now  he,  the  first  and  the  last,  who 
was  dead  and  is  alive,  and  maketh  intercession 
for  transgressors,  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most all  who  come  unto  God  through  him;  and 
standing  in  the  breach  between  a  holy  God  and 
the  sinners  who  have  offended  him,  does  he 
make  reconciliation,  and  lay  his  hand  upon 
them  both. 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  the  Mediator  be 
appointed  by  God, — he  must  be  accepted  by 
man.  And  to  incite  our  acceptance  does  he 
hold  forth  every  kind  and  constraining  argu- 
ment. He  casts  abroad,  over  the  whole  face  of 
the  world,  one  wide  and  universal  assurance  of 
welcome.  "  Whosoever  cometh  unto  me  shall 
not  be  cast  out."  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  who  la- 
bour and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.'^  "  Where  sin  hath  abounded,  grace  hath 
much  more  abounded."  "  Whatsoever  ye  ask  iri 
my  name  ye  shall  receiva"  The  path  of  access 
to  Christ  is  open  and  free  of  every  obstacle, 
which  kept  fearful  and  guilty  man  at  an  im- 
practicable distance  from  the  jealous  and  un- 


SERMON  VI.  141 

pacitied  Lawgiver.  He  hath  put  aside  the  ob- 
stacle, and  now  stands  in  its  place.  Let  us 
only  go  in  the  way  of  the  Gospel,  and  we  shall 
fiid  nothing  between  us  and  God  but  the  au- 
thor and  finisher  of  the  Gospel, — who,  on  the 
one  hand,  beckons  to  him  the  approach  of 
man,  with  every  token  of  truth  and  of  tender- 
ness ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  advocates  our 
cause  with  God,  and  fills  his  mouth  with  argu- 
ments, and  pleads  that  very  atonement  which 
was  devised  in  love  by  the  Father,  and  with  the 
incense  of  which  he  was  well  pleased,  and 
claims,  as  the  fruit  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  all 
who  put  their  trust  in  him ;  and  thus  laying  hi^ 
hand  upon  God,  turns  him  altogether  from  the 
fierceness  of  his  indignation. 

But  Jesus  Christ  is  something  more  than  the 
agent  of  our  justification,— he  is  the  agent  of 
our  sanctification  also.     Standing  between  us 
and  God,  he  receives  from  him  of  that  Spirit 
which  is  called  the  promise  of  the  Father,  and 
he  pours  it  forth  in  free  and  generous  dispen- 
sation on  those  who  believe  in  him.     Without 
this  spirit  there  may,  in  a  few  of  the  goodlier 
specimens  of  our  race,  be  within  us  the  play 
of  what  is  kindly  in  constitutional  feeling,  and 
without  us  the  exhibition  of  what  is  seemly  in 
a  constitutional  virtue ;  and  man,  thus  standing 
t)ver  us  in  judgment,  may  pass  his  verdict  of 
approbation ;  and  all  that  is  visible  in  our  doings 
may  be  pure  as  by  the  operation  of  snow  water. 
Bui  the  utter  irreligiousness  of  our  nature  will 


142  SERiMON  Yf. 

remain  as  entire  and  as  obstinate  as  ever.  The 
alienation  of  our  desires  from  God  will  persist 
with  unsubdued  vigour  in  our  bosoms ;  and  sin^ 
in  the  very  essence  of  its  elementary  principle, 
will  still  lord  it  over  the  inner  man  with  all 
the  power  of  its  original  ascendency, — till  the 
deep,  and  the  searching,  and  the  pervading  in- 
fluence of  the  love  of  God  be  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is  the  work 
of  the  great  Mediator.  This  is  the  might  and 
the  mystery  of  that  regeneration,  v^ithout  which 
we  shall  never  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  This 
is  the  office  of  Him  to  whom  all  power  is  com- 
mitted, both  in  heaven  and  in  earth,-- who, 
reigning  in  heaven,  and  uniting  its  mercy  with 
its  righteousness,  causes  them  to  flow  upon 
earth  in  one  stream  of  celestial  influence  ;  and 
reigning  on  earth,  and  working  mightily  in  the 
hearts  of  its  people,  makes  them  meet  for  the 
society  of  heaven, — thereby  completing  the 
wonderful  work  of  our  redemption,  by  which, 
on  the  one  hand,  he  brings  the  eye  of  a  holy 
God  to  look  approvingly  on  the  sinner,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  makes  the  sinner  fit  for  the 
fellowship,  and  altogether  prepared  for  the  en- 
joyment  of  God. 

Such  are  the  great  elements  of  a  sinner's  re- 
ligion. But  if  you  turn  from  the  prescribed 
use  of  them,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  you. 
If  you  kiss  not  the  Son  while  he  is  in  the  way, 
you  provoke  his  anger,  and  when  once  it  begins 
to  burn,  they  only  are  blessed  who  have  put 


SERMON  VI.  143 

their  trust  in  him.  If,  on  the  fancied  sufficien- 
cy of  a  righteousness  that  is  without  godliness, 
you  neglect  the  great  salvation,  you  will  not 
escape  the  severities  of  that  day,  when  the 
Being  with  whom  you  have  to  do  shall  en- 
ter with  you  into  judgment;  and  it  is  only  by 
fleeing  to  the  Mediator,  as  you  would  from  a 
coming  storm,  that  peace  is  made  between  you 
and  God,  and  that,  sanctified  by  the  faith  which 
is  in  Jesus,  you  are  made  to  abound  in  such 
fruits  of  righteousness,  as  shall  be  to  praise  and 
glory  at  the  last  and  the  solemn  reckoning. 

Before  we  conclude,  we  shall  just  advert  to 
another  sense,  in  which  the  Mediator  between 
God  and  man  may  be  affirmed  to  have  laid  his 
hand  upon  them  both  :—He  fills  up  that  mys- 
terious interval  which  lies  between  every  cor- 
poreal being,  and  the  God  who  is  a  spirit  and 
is  invisible. 

No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time,— and 
the  power  which  is  unseen  is  terrible.  Fancy 
trembles  before  its  own  picture,  and  supersti- 
tion throws  its  darkest  imagery  over  it.  The 
voice  of  the  thunder  is  awful,  but  not  so  awful 
as  the  conception  of  that  angry  Being  who  sits 
in  mysterious  concealment,  and  gives  it  all  its 
energy.  In  these  sketches  of  the  imagination, 
fear  is  sure  to  predominate.  We  gather  an  im- 
pression of  Nature's  God,  from  those  scenes 
where  Nature  threatens,  and  looks  dreadful. 
We  speak  not  of  the  theology  of  the  schools, 
and  the  empty  parade  of  its  demonstrations. 


144  SERMON  VI, 

We  speak  of  the  theology  of  actual  feeling,— 
that  theology  which  is  sure  to  derive  its  lessons 
ir-om  the  quarter  whence  the  human  heart  de- 
rives its  strongest  sensations, — and  we  refer  both 
to  your  own  feelings,  and  to  the  history  of  this 
world's  opinions,  if  God  is  more  felt  or  more 
present  to  yourimaginations  in  the  peacefulness 
of  spring,  or  the  loveliness  of  a  summer  land- 
scape, than  when  winter  with  its  mighty  ele- 
ments sw^eeps  the  forest  of  its  leaves,^ — when  the 
rushing  of  the  storm  is  heard  upon  our  win- 
dows, and  man  flees  to  cover  himself  from  the 
desolation  that  walketh  over  the  surface  of  the 
world. 

If  nature  and  her  elements  be  dreadful,  how 
dreadful  that  mysterious  and  unseen  Being, 
who  sits  behind  the  elements  he  has  formed,  and 
gives  birth  and  movement  to  all  things!  It  is 
the  mystery  in  which  he  is  shrouded, — it  is 
that  dark  and  unknown  region  of  spirits,  where 
he  reigns  in  glory,  and  stands  revealed  to  the 
immediate  view  of  his  worshippers, — it  is  the 
inexplicable  manner  of  his  being  so  far  removed 
from  that  province  of  sense,  within  which  the 
understanding  of  man  can  expatiate, — it  is  its 
total  unlikeness  to  all  that  nature  can  furnish 
to  the  eye  of  the  body,  or  to  the  conception  of 
the  mind  which  animates  it, — it  is  all  this 
which  throws  the  Being  who  formed  us  at  a 
distance  so  inaccessible. — which  throws  an  im- 
penetrable mantle  over  his  way,  and  gives  us 
the  idea  of  some  dark  and  untrodden  interval 


SERMON  VL  u 

betwixt  the  glory  of  God,  and  all  that  is  visible 
and  created. 

Now,  Jesus  Christ  has  lifted  up  this  myste- 
rious veil,  or  rather  he  has  entered  within  it. 
He  is  now  at  the  right  hand  of  God ;  and  though 
the  brightness  of  his  Father's  glory,  and  the  ex- 
press image  of  his  person,  he  appeared  to  us  in 
thepalpable  characters  of  aman;  and  those  high 

attributes  of  truth,  and  justice,  and  mercy,  which 
could  not  be  felt  or  understood,  as  they  existed 
in  the  abstract  and  invisible  Deity,  are  brought 
down  to  our  conceptions  in  a  manner  the  most 
familiar  and  impressive,  by  having  been  made, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  to  flo^v  in  utterance  from 
human  lips,  and  to  beam  in  expressive  phy- 
siognomy from  a  human  countenance. 

So  long  as  I  had  nothing  before  me  but  the 
unseen  spirit  of  God,  my  mind  wandered  in 
uncertainty,  my  busy  fancy  was  free  to  expatiate, 
and  its  images  filled  my  heart  with  disquietude 
and  terror.  But  in  the  life,  and  person,  and  histo- 
ry of  Jesus  Christ,  the  attributes  of  the  Deity  are 
brought  down  to  the  observation  of  the  senses ; 
and  I  can  no  longer  mistake  them,  when  in  the 
Son,  who  is  the  express  image  of  his  Father,  I 
see  them  carried  home  to  my  understanding  by 
the  evidence  and  expression  of  human  organs, — 
when  I  see  the  kindness  of  the  Father,  in  the 
tears  which  fell  from  his  Son  at  the  tomb  of 
Lazarus, — when  I  see  his  justice  blended  with 
his  mercy,  in  the  exclamation,  "  O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,"  by  Jesus  Christ;  uttered  with  a  tone 

19 


m. 


146  SERMON  Vf. 

more  tender  than  the  sympathy  of  human  bosom 
ever  prompted,  while  he  bewailed  the  sentence 
of  its  desolation,— and  in  the  look  of  energy 
and  significance  which  he  threw  upon  Peter,  I 
feel  the  judgment  of  God  himself,  flashing  con- 
viction upon  my  conscience,  and  calling  me  to 
repent  while  his  wrath  is  suspended,  and  he 
still  waiteth  to  be  gracious. 

And  it  was  not  a  temporary  character  which 
he  assumed.     The  human   kindness,  and  the 
human  expression  which   makes  it  intelligible 
to  us,  remained  with  him  till  his  latest  hour. 
They  survived  his  resurrection,  and  he  has 
carried  them  along  with  him  to  the  mysterious 
place  which  he  now  occupies.      How  do   I 
know  all  this?     I  know^  it  from  his  history; 
I  hear  it  in  the  parting  words  to  his  mother 
from  the  cross ;  I  see  it  in  his  unaltered  form 
when  he  rose  triumphant  from  the  grave;    I 
perceive  it  in  his  tenderness  for  the  scruples  of 
the  unbeheving  Thomas;  and  I  am  given  to 
understand,  that  as  his  body  retained  the  im- 
pression of  his  own  sufferings,  so  his  mind  re- 
tains a  sympathy  for  ours,  as  warm,  and  gra- 
cious, and  endearing,  as  ever.      We  have  a 
Priest  on  high,  who  is  touched  with  a  fellow 
feehng  of  our  infirmities.     My  soul,  unable  to 
support  itself  in  its  aerial  flight  among  the 
spirits  of  the  invisible,  now  reposes  on  Christ, 
who  stands  revealed  to  my  conceptions  in  the 
figure,  the  countenance,  the  heart,  the  sympa- 
thies of  a  man.     He  has  entered  within  that 


SERMON  VI.  147 

veil  which  hung  over  the  glories  of  the  Eternal ; 
and  the  mysterious  inaccessible  throne  of  God 
is  divested  of  all  its  terrors,  when  I  think  that 
a  friend  who  bears  the  form  of  the  species,  and 
knows  its  infirmities,  is  there  to  plead  for  me. 


SERMON  VII. 


THE  FOLLV  OF  MEN  MEASURING  THEMSELVES  BV 
THEMSELVES. 


2  Corinthians  x.  12. 

'*  For  we  dare  not  make  ourselves  of  the  number,  or  com- 
pare ourselves  with  some  that  commend  themselves  ;  but 
they,  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  compar- 
ing themselves  among  themselves,  are  not  wise," 

St.  Paul  addressed  these  words  to  the  mem- 
bers of  a  Christian  congregation ;  and  were  we 
to  confine  their  application  to  those  people  of 
the  present  day,  who,  in  circumstances,  bear 
the  nearest  resemblance  to  them,  we  would,  in 
the  present  discourse,  have  chiefly  to  do  with 
the  more  serious  and  declared  professors  of 
the  Gospel.  Nor  should  we  be  long  at  a  loss 
for  a  very  observable  peculiarity  amongst  them, 
against  which  to  point  the  admonition  of  the 
Apostle.  For,  in  truth,  there  is  a  great  dispo- 
sition with  the  members  of  the  religious  world, 
fo  look  away  from  the  unalterable  standard  of 


SERMON  VII.  149 

God's  will,  and  to  form  a  standard  of  authority 
out  of  the  existing  attainments  of  those  whom 
they  conceive  to  be  iii  the  faith.  We  know 
nothing  that  has  contributed  more  than  this  to 
reduce  the  tone  of  practical  Christianity.  We 
know  not  a  more  insidious  security,  than  that 
which  steals  over  the  mind  of  him  who,  when 
he  looks  to  another  of  eminent  name  for  godli- 
ness, or  orthodoxy,  and  perceives  in  him  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  conformity  to  the  world,  or  a  cer- 
tain measure  of  infirmity  of  temper,  or  a  certain 
abandonment  of  himself  to  the  natural  enjoy- 
ments of  luxury,  or  of  idle  gossiping,  or  of  com- 
menting with  malignant  pleasure  on  the  faults 
and  failings  of  the  absent,  thinks,  that  upon 
such  an  example,  it  is  safe  for  him  to  allow  in 
himself  an  equal  extent  of  indulgence ;  and  to 
go  the  same  lengths  of  laxity  or  transgression; 
and  thus,  instead  of  measuring  himself  by  the 
perfect  law  of  the  Almighty,  and  making  con- 
formity to  it  the  c'  ect  of  his  strenuous  aspir- 
ings,— does  he  measure  himself  and  compare 
himself  with  his  fellow-mortals, — and  pitches 
his  ambition  to  no  greater  height  than  the  ac- 
cidental level  which  obtains  amongst  the  mem- 
bers of  his  own  religious  brotherhood,  and 
finds  a  quiet  repose  in  the  mediocrity  of  their 
actual  accomplishments,  and  of  their  current 
and  conventional  observations. 

There  is  much  in  this  consideration  to  alarm 
many  of  those  who,  within  the  pale  of  a  select 
and  peculiar  circle,  look  upon  themselves  as 


150  SERMON  VU. 

firmly  seated  in  an  enclosure  of  safety.     They 
may  be  recognised  by  the  society  around  them, 
as  one  of  us ;  and  they  may  keep  the  even  pace 
of  acquirement  along  with  them ;  and  they  may 
wear  all  those  marks  of  distinction  which  se- 
parate them  from  the  general  and  unprofessing 
pubhc  ;   and,  in  respect  of  Church,  and  of  sa- 
crament, and  of  family  observances,  and  of  ex- 
clusive preference  for  each  other's  conversa- 
tion, and  of  meetings  for  prayer  and  the  other 
exercises  of  Christian  fellowship,  they  may 
stand  most  decidedly  out  from  the  world,  and 
most  decidedly  in  with  those  of  their  own  cast 
and  their  own  denomination ; — and  yet,  in  fact, 
there  may  be  individuals,  even  of  such  a  body 
as  this,  who,  instead  of  looking  upwards  to  the 
Being  with  whom  they  have  to  do,  are  looking 
no  farther  than  to  the  testimony  and  example 
of  those  who  are  immediately  around  them; 
who  count  it  enough  that  they  are  highly  es- 
teemed among  men  ;  who  feel  no  earnestness, 
and  put  forth  no  strength  in  the  pursuit  of  ^ 
lofty  sanctification ;  who  are  not  living  as  in 
the  sight  of  God,  and  are  not  in  the  habit  of 
bringing  their  conduct  into  measurement  with 
the  principles  of  that  great  day,  when  God's 
righteousness  shall  be  vindicated  in  the  eyes 
of  all  his  creatures;  who,  satisfied,  in  short, 
with  the  countenance  of  the  people  of  their 
own  communion,  come  under  the  charge  of  my 
text,  that  measuring  themselves  by  themselves^ 
and  comparing  themselves  among  themselves, 
they  are  not  wise. 


SERMON  VII.  151 

Now,  though  this  habit  of  measuring  ourselves 
by  ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves  among 
ourselves,  be  charged  by  the  Apostle,  in  the 
text,  against  the  professors  of  a  strict  and  pe- 
culiar Christianity ;  it  is  a  habit  so  universally 
exemplified  in  the  world,  and  ministers  such  a 
deep  and  fatal  security  to  the  men  of  all  cha- 
racters who  hve  in  it,  and  establishes  in  their 
hearts  so  firm  a  principle  of  resistance  against 
the  humbling  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament, 
that  we  trust  we  shall  be  excused  if  we  leave 
out,  for  a  time,  the  consideration  of  those  who 
are  within  the  limits  of  the  Church,  and  dwell 
on  the  operation  of  this  habit  among  those  who 
are  without  these  limits;  and  going  beyond 
that  territory  of  observation  to'which  the  words 
now  read  would  appear  to  restrict  us,  we  shall 
attend  to  the  effects  of  that  principle  in  human 
nature  which  are  there  adverted  to,  in  as  far  as 
it  serves  to  fortify  the  human  mind  against  an 
entire  reception  of  the  truths  and  the  overtures 
of  the  Gospel. 

It  may  be  remarked,  by  way  of  illustration, 
that  the  habit  condemned  in  the  text  is  an 
abundant  cause  of  that  vanity  which  is  founded 
on  a  sense  of  our  importance.  If,  instead 
of  measuring  ourselves  by  our  companions  and 
equals  in  society,  we  brought  ourselves  into 
measurement  with  our  superiors,  it  might  go 
far  to  humble  and  chastise  our  vanity.  The 
rustic  conqueror  on  some  arena  of  strength  or 
of  dexterity,  stands  proudly  elevated  among 


152  SERMON  VII. 

his  fellow-rustics  who  are  around  him.     Place 
him  beside  the  returned  warrior,  who  can  tell  of 
the  hazards,  and  the  achievements,  and  the  des- 
perations of  the  great  battle  in  which  he   had 
shared  the  renown  and  the  danger;  and  he  will 
stand  convicted  of  the  humility  of  his  own  per- 
formances.    The  man  who  is  most  keen,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  most  skilful  in  the  busy  politics 
of  his  corporation,  triumphs  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  that  sagacity  by  which  he  has  baffled 
and  overpowered  the  devices  of  his  many  anta- 
gonists.    But  take  him  to  the  high  theatre  of 
Parliament,  and  bring  him  into  fellowship  with 
the  man  who  has  there  won  the  mighty  game  of 
superiority,  and  he  will  feel  abashed  at  the  in- 
significance of  his  own  tamer  and  homelier  pre- 
tensions.    The  richest  individual  of  the  district 
struts  throughout  his  neighbourhood  in  all  the 
glories  of  a  provincial  eminence.  Carry  him  to 
the  metropolis  of  the  empire,  and  he  hides  his 
diminished  head  under  the  brilliancy  of  rank 
far  loftier  than  his  own,  and  equipage  more 
splendid  than  that  by  which  he  gathers  from  his 
surrounding   tributaries,  the  homage  of  a  re- 
spectful admiration.     The  principle  of  all  this 
vanity  was  seen  by  the  discerning  eye  of  the 
Apostle.     It  is  put  down  for  our  instruction  in 
the  text  before  us.     And  if  we,  instead  of  look- 
ing to  our  superiority  above  the  level  of  our 
immediate  acquaintanceship,  pointed  an  eye 
of  habitual  observation  to  our  inferiority  be- 
neath the  level  of  those  in  society  who  were 


SERMON  VIL  153 

more  dtgnified  and  more  accomplished  than 
ourselves, — such  a  habit  as  this  might  shed  a 
graceful  humility  over  our  characters,  and 
save  us  from  the  pangs  and  the  delusions  of  a 
vanity  which  was  not  made  for  man. 

And  let  it  not  be  said  of  those,  who,  in  the 
more  exalted  walks  of  Hfe,  can  look  to  few  or  to 
none  above  them,  that  they  can  derive  no  benefit 
from  the  principle  of  my  text,  because  they  are 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  its  appHcation.  It  is 
true  of  him  who  is  on  the  very  pinnacle  of  hu- 
man society,  that  standing  sublimely  there,  he 
can  cast  a  downward  eye  on  all  the  ranks  and 
varieties  of  the  world.  But,  though  in  the  act 
of  looking  beneath  him  to  men,  he  may  ga- 
ther no  salutary  lesson  of  humility — the  lesson 
should  come  as  forcibly  upon  him  as  upon  any 
of  his  fellow  mortals,  in  the  act  of  looking 
above  him  to  God.  Instead  of  comparing  him- 
self with  the  men  of  this  world,  let  him  leave 
the  world  and  expatiate  in  thought  over 
the  tracks  of  immensity,— let  him  survey  the 
mighty  apparatus  of  worlds  scattered  in  such 
profusion  over  its  distant  regions ;  let  him  bring 
the  whole  field  of  the  triumphs  of  his  ambition 
into  measurement  with  the  magnificence  that  is 
above  him,  and  around  him, — above  all,  let  him 
rise  through  the  ascending  series  of  angels,  and 
principalities,  and  powers,  to  the  throne  of  the 
august  Monarch  on  whom  all  is  suspended,—*:!^ 
and  then  will  the  lofty  imagination  of  his 
20 


IH  SERMON  VIL 

heart  be  cast  down,  and  all  vanity  di^ •within 
him. 

Now,  if  all  this  be  obviously  true  of  that  va- 
nity which  is  founded  on  a  sense  of  our  impor- 
tance, might  it  not  be  as  true  of  that  compla- 
cency which  is  founded  on  a  sense  of  our 
worth  ?  vShould  it  not  lead  us  to  suspect  the 
ground  of  this  complacency,  and  to  fear  lest  a 
similar  delusion  be  misleading  us  into  a  false 
estimate  of  our  own  righteousness  ?  When  we 
feel  a  sufficiency  in  the  act  of  measuring  our- 
selves by  ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves 
among  ourselves,  is  it  not  the  average  virtue  of 
those  around  us  that  is  the  standard  of  measure- 
ment ?  Do  we  not  at  the  time,  form  our  estimate 
of  human  worth  upon  the  character  of  man  as 
it  actually  is,  instead  of  forming  it  upon  the 
high  standard  of  that  pure  and  exalted  law^ 
which  tells  us  what  the  character  ought  to  be  ? 
Is  it  not  thus  that  many  are  lulled  into  security, 
because  they  are  as  good  or  better  than  their 
neighbours  ?  This  may  do  for  earth,  but  the 
question  we  want  to  press  is,  will  it  do  for  Hea- 
ven ?  It  may  carry  us  through  life  with  a  fair 
and  equal  character  in  society,  and  even  when 
we  come  to  die,  it  may  gain  us  an  epitaph 
upon  our  tombstones.  But  after  death  cometh 
the  judgment;  and  in  that  awful  day  when 
judgment  is  laid  to  the  line  and  righteous- 
!*ess  to  the  plummet,  every  refuge  of  lies  will 
be  swept  away,  and  every  hiding-place  of  se- 
curity be  laid  open. 


SERMON  VII.  IT)/^ 

Under  the  influence  of  this  delusion,  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  are  posting  their 
infatuated  way  to  a  ruined  and  undone  eternity. 
The  good  man  of  society  lives  on  the  applause 
and  cordiality  of  his  neighbours.  He  compares 
himself  with  his  fellow-men ;  and  their  testimony 
to  the  graces  of  his  amiable,  and  upright,  and 
honourable  character,  falls  like  the  music  of 
paradise  upon  his  eiirs.  And  it  were  also  the 
earnest  of  paradise,  if  these  his  flatterers  and  ad- 
mirers in  time  were  to  be  his  judges  in  the  day 
of  reckoning.  But,  alas  !  they  will  only  be  his 
fellow-prisoners  at  the  bar.  The  eternal  Son  of 
God  Vill  preside  over  the  solemnities  of  that 
day.  He  will  take  the  judgment  upon  him- 
self, and  he  will  conduct  it  on  his  own  lofty 
standard  of  examination,  and  not  on  the  maxims 
or  the  habits  of  a  world  lying  in  wickedness, 
O  ye  deluded  men  !  who  carry  your  heads  so 
high,  and  look  so  safe  and  so  satisfied  amid  the 
smooth  and  equal  measurements  of  society, -do 
you  ever  think  how  you  are  to  stand  the  admea- 
surement of  Christ  and  of  his  angels  ?  and  think 
you  that  the  fleeting  applause  of  mortals,  sinful 
as  yourselves,  will  carry  an  authority  over  the 
mind  of  your  judge,  or  prescribe  to  him  that  so- 
lemn award  which  is  to  fix  you  for  <'ternity  ? 

In  the  prosecution  of  the  following  discourse. 
let  us  first  attempt  to  expose  the  folly  of  mea- 
suring ourselves  by  ourselves,  and  comparing 
ourselves  amongst  ourselves;  and  then  poliit  out 
the  wisdom  opposite  to  this  folly,  which  is  re- 
commended in  the  gospel. 


156  SERMON  Vll 

1.  The  foil  J  of  measuring  ourselves  by  our- 
selves is  a  lesson  which  admits  of  many  illus- 
trations.    The  habit  is  so  universal.     It  is  so 
strikingly  exemplified,   even  among  the  most 
acknowledged  outcasts  from  all  that  is  worthy, 
and  all  that  is  respectable  in  general  estimation. 
-There  is  not  a  congregated  mass  of  human  be- 
ings,  associated  in   one  common    pursuit,  or 
brought    together    by  one  common  accident, 
among  whom  there  is  not  established   either 
some  tacit  or  proclaimed  morality,  to  the  obser^ 
vance  of  which,orto  the  violation  of  which,  there 
is  awarded  admiration  or  disgrace,  by  the  voice 
of  the  society  that   is  formetl  by   them.     You 
cannot  bring  two  or  more  human  beings  to  act 
in  concert  without  some  conventional  principle 
of  right  and  wrong  arising   out  of  it,  which 
either  must  be  practically  held  in  regard,  or  the 
concert  is  dissipated.     And  yet  it  may  be  al- 
together a  concert  of  iniquity.     It  may  be  a 
concert  of  villany  and    injustice    against  the 
larger  interests  of  human  society.     It  may  be  a 
banded  conspiracy  against  the  peace  and  the 
property  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  there  may 
not  be  a  member  belonging  to  it  who  does  not 
carry  the  stamp  of  outlawry  upon  his  person, 
and  who  is  not  liable,  and  rightlj  liable,  to  the 
penalties  of  an  outraged  government,    against 
which  he  is  bidding,  by  the  whole  habit  of  his 
life,  a  daily  and  systematic  defiance.     And  jet 
even  among  such  a  class  of  the  species  as  this, 
an  enlightened  observer  of  our  nature  will  not 


SERMON  VII.  157 

fail  to  perceive  a  standard  of  morality,  both  re- 
cognized and  acted  upon  by  all  its  individuals, 
and  in  reference  to  which  morality,  there  actu- 
ally stirs  in  many  a  bosom  amongst  them  a  very 
warm  and  enthusiastic  feeling  of  obligation.-- 
and  some  will  you  find,  who,  by  their  devoted 
adherence  to  its  maxims,  earn  among  their  com- 
panions all  the  distinctions  of  honour  and  of  vir- 
tue,—and  others  who,  by  falling  away  from  the 
principles  of  the  compact,  become  the  victims 
of  a  deep  and  general   execration.     And  thus 
may  the  very  same  thing  be  perceived    with 
them,  that  we  see  in  the  more  general  society 
of  mankind— -a  scale  of  character,  and,  corres- 
ponding to  it,  a  scale  of  respectability,   along 
which  the  members   of  the  most  wicked  and 
worthless  association  upon  earth  may  be  ran- 
ged according  to  the  gradation  of  such  virtues 
as  are  there  held  in  demand,  and  in  reverence ; 
and  thus  there  Avill  be  a  feeUng  of  complacency, 
and  a  distribution  of  applause,  and  a  conscious 
superiority  of  moral  and  personal  attainment, 
and  all  this  grounded  on  the  habit  of  measuring 
themselves    by    themselves,    and    comparing 
themselves  amongst  themselves. 

The  first  case  of  such  an  exhibition  which 
we  offer  to  your  notice,  comes  so  aptly  in  for 
the  purpose  of  illustration,  that  homely  and  fa- 
miliar as  it  is,  we  cannot  resist  the  introduction 
of  it.  We  allude  to  the  case  of  smugglers. 
These  men,  in  as  far,  at  least,  as  it  respects  one 
tie  of  allegiance,   may  be  considered  as  com- 


158  SERMON  Vil. 

pletely  broken  loose  from  the  government  of 
their  country.  They  have  formed  themselves 
into  a  plot  against  the  interests  of  the  pubHc  re- 
venue, and  it  maybe  generally  said  of  them,  that 
they  have  no  feeling  whatever  of  the  criminality 
of  their  undertaking.  On  this  point  there  is  ut- 
terly wanting  the  sympathy  of  any  common  prin- 
ciple between  the  administrators  of  the  law  and 
the  transgressors  of  the  law, — and  yet  it  w^ould 
be  altogether  untrue  to  nature  and  to  experi- 
ence to  say  of  the  latter,  that  they  are  entire 
strangers  to  the  feeling  of  every  moral  obliga- 
tion. They  have  a  very  strong  sense  of  ob- 
ligation to  each  other.  There  are  virtues 
amono"st  them  which  serve  to  signalize  certain 
members,  and  vices  amongst  them  which  doom 
to  infamy  certain  other  members  of  their  own 
association.  In  reference  to  the  duties  which 
they  owe  to  government,  they  may  be  dead  to 
every  impression  of  them.  But  in  reference 
to  those  duties,  on  the  punctual  fulfilment  of 
w^hich  depends  the  success,  or  even  the  conti- 
nuance, of  their  system  of  operations,  they  may 
be  most  keenly  and  sensitively  alive.  They 
may  speak  of  the  informer  who  has  abandoned 
them,  with  all  the  intensity  of  moral  hatred  and 
contempt ;  and  of  the  man,  again,  who  never 
once  swerved  from  his  fidelity;  of  the  man, 
who,  with  all  the  notable  dexterity  of  his  eva- 
sions from  the  vigilance  that  was  sent  forth  to 
track  and  to  discover  him,  was  ever  known  to 
be  open  as  day  amongst  the  members  of  his 


SERMON  VII.  159 

own  brotherhood ;  of  the  man,  who,  with  the 
unprincipledness  of  a  most  skih'ul  and  syste- 
matic falsehood,  in  reference  to  the  agents  and 
pursuers  of  the  law,  was  the  most  trusty,  and 
the  most  incorruptible,  in  reference  to  his  fel- 
lows of  the  trade ;  of  the  man  who  stands  high- 
est amongst  them  in  all  the  virtues  of  pledged 
and  sworn  companionship ; — why,  of  such  a 
man  will  these  roving  mountaineers  speak  in 
terms  of  honest  and  h^rt-felt  veneration :  and 
nothing  more  is  necessary,  in  order  to  throw  a 
kind  of  chivalric  splendour  over  him,  than  just 
to  be  told,  along  with  his  inflexible  devotedness 
to  the  cause,  of  his  heardy  adventurers,  and 
his  hair-breadth  miracles  of  escape,  and  his 
inexhaustible  resources,  and  of  the  rapidity  of 
his  ever-suiting  and  ever-shifting  contrivances, 
and  of  his  noble  and  unquelled  spirit  of  daring, 
and  of  the  art  and  activity  by  which  he  has 
eluded  his  opponents,  and  of  the  unfaltering 
courage  by  which  he  has  resisted  them.  We 
doubt  not,  that  even  in  the  history  of  this  igno- 
minious traffic,  there  do  occur  such  deeds  and 
characters  of  unrecorded  heroism;  and  still  the 
men  who  carry  it  on,  measuring  themselves  by 
themselves,  may  never  think  of  the  ignominy. 
They  will  enjoy  the  praise  they  have  one  of 
another,  and  care  not  for  the  distant  blame 
that  is  cast  upon  them  by  the  public  voice. 
They  will  carry  in  their  bosoms  the  swelling 
consciousness  of  worth,  and  be  regaled  by  the 
home  testimony  of  those  who  rvc  about  them ; 


160  SERMON  VII. 

and  all  this  at  the  very  time  when,  to  the  ge- 
neral community,  they  offer  a  spectacle  of  odi- 
ousness;  all  this  at  the  very  time,  when  the 
power  and  the  justice  of  an  incensed  govern* 
ment  are  moving  forth  upon  them. 

But  another  case  still  more  picturesque,  and, 
what  is  far  better,  still  more  subservient  to  the 
establishment  of  the  lesson  of  our  text,  may  be 
taken  from  another  set  of  adventurers,  hardier, 
and  more  ferocious,  and  more  unprincipled 
than  the  former.  We  allude  to  the  men  of  rapine; 
and  who,  rather  than  that  their  schemes  of  ra- 
pine should  be  frustrated,  have  so  far  overcome 
all  the  scruples  and  all  the  sensibihties  of  na- 
ture, that  they  have  become  men  of  blood.  They 
live  as  commoners  upon  the  world;    and  at 
large  from  those  restraints,  whether  of  feeling 
or  of  principle,  which  hold  in  security  together 
^  the  vast  majority  of  this  world's  families,  they 
are  looked  at  by  general  society  with  a  revolt- 
ing sense  of  terror  and  of  odiousness.     And  yet, 
among  these  monsters  of  the  cavern,  and  prac- 
tised as  they  are  in  all  the  atrocities  of  the  high- 
way, will  you  find  a  virtue  of  their  own,  and  a 
high-toned  morality  of  their  own.     Living  as 
they  do,  in  a  state  of  emancipation  from  the  law 
universal,  still  there  is  among  them  alawisoteri- 
cal,in  doing  homage  to  which,  the  hearts  of  these 
banditti  actually  glow  with  the  movements  of 
honourable  principle;  and  the  path  of  their  con- 
duct is  actually  made  to  square  with  the  confor- 
mities of  right  and  honourable  practice.     Ex- 


SERMON  VIL  161 

traordinary  as  you  may  think  it,  the  very  habit 
of  my  text  is  in  full  operation  among  these  very 
men,  who  have  wandered  so  far  from  all  that  is 
deemed  righteous  in  society;  and  disowning, 
as  they  do,  our  standard  of  principle  altogether, 
they  have  a  standard  among  themselves,  on 
which  they  can  adjust  a  scale  of  moral  estima^ 
tion,  and  apply  it  in  every  exercise  of  judg- 
ment on  the  character  of  each  individual  who 
belongs  to  them.  In  reference  to  every  devia- 
tion that  is  made  by  them  from  the  general  stan- 
dard of  right,  there  is  an  entire  obliteration  of 
all  their  sensibilities,~and  this  is  not  the  ground 
on  which  they  ever  think  either  of  reproaching 
themselves,  or  of  casting  any  imputation  of  dis- 
grace on  their  companions.  But,  in  reference 
to  their  own  particular  standard  of  right,  they 
are  all  awake  to  the  enormity  of  every  act  of 
transgression  against  it, — and  thus  it  is,  that 
measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  com- 
paring themselves  amongst  themselves,  there  is 
just  with  them  as  varied  a  distribution  of  praise 
and  of  obloquy  as  is  to  be  met  with  on  the  face 
of  any  regular  and  well-ordered  commonwealth. 
And  who,  we  would  ask,  is  the  man  among  all 
these  prowling  outcasts  ofnature,  on  whom  the 
law  of  his  country  would  inflict  the  most  un- 
relenting vengeance?  He  who  is  most  sig- 
nalized by  the  moralities  of  his  order,— he 
who  has  gained  by  fidelity,  and  courage,  and 
disinterested  honour,  the  chieftainship  of  con- 
fidence and  affection  amongst  them.-^he,  the 

21. 


162  SERMON  VII. 

foremost  of  all  the  desperadoes,  on  whose  cha- 
racter perhaps  the  romance  of  generosity  and 
truth  is  strangely  blended  with  the  stern  bar- 
barities of  his  calling, — and  who,  the  most 
admired  among  the  members  of  his  own  bro- 
therhood, is,  at  the  same  time,  the  surest  to 
bring  down  upon  his  person  all  the  rigours  and 
all  the  severities  of  the  judgment-seat. 

Let  us  now  follow  with  the  eye  of  our  ob- 
servation, a  number  of  these  transgressors  into 
another  scene.  Let  us  go  into  the  place 
of  their  confinement ;  and,  in  this  receptacle  of 
many  criminals,  with  all  their  varied  hues  of 
guilt  and  of  depravity,  we  shall  perceive  the 
habit  of  my  text  in  full  and  striking  exem- 
plification. The  murderer  stands  lower  in  the 
scale  of  character  than  the  thief  The  first  is 
worse  than  the  second — and  you  have  only  to 
reverse  the  terms  of  the  comparison,  that  you 
may  be  enabled  to  say  how  the  second  is  better 
than  the  first  Thus,  even  in  this  repository  of 
human  worthlessness,  we  meet  with  gradations 
of  character ;  with  the  worse  and  the  better  and 
the  best ;  with  an  ascending  and  a  descending 
scale,  which  runs  in  continuity,  from  the  one 
who  stands  upon  its  pinnacle,  to  the  one  who 
is  the  deepest  and  most  determined  in  wicked- 
ness amongst  them.  It  is  utter  ignorance  of 
our  nature  to  conceive  that  this  moral  gradation 
is  not  fully  and  frequently  in  the  minds  of  the 
criminals  themselves, — that  there  is  not,  even 
here,  the  habit  of  each  measuring  himself  with. 


SERMON  Vrr.  163 

his  fellow-prisoners  around  him,  and  of  some 
soothed  by  the  consciousness  of  a  more  un- 
tainted character,  and  rejoicing  over  it  with  a 
feehng  of  secret  elevation.  They,  in  truth, 
know  themselves  to  be  the  best  of  their  kind, — 
and  this  knowledge  brings  a  complacency  along 
with  it, — and,  even  in  this  mass  of  profligacy, 
there  swells  and  kindles  the  pride  of  superior 
attainments.  But  there  is  at  least  one  delusion, 
from  which  one  and  all  of  them  stand  exempt- 
ed. The  very  best  of  them,  however  much  he 
may  be  regaled  by  the  inward  sense  of  his 
advantage  over  others,  knows,  that  in  reference 
to  the  law,  he  is  not  on  a  footing  of  merit,  but 
on  a  footing  of  criminality, — knows,  that  though 
he  will  be  the  most  gently  dealt  with,  and  that 
on  him  the  lightest  penalty  will  fall,  yet  still  he 
stands  to  his  judge  and  to  his  country,  in  the  re- 
lation of  a  condemned  malefactor — feels,  how 
preposterous  it  were,  if,  on  the  plea  of  being  the 
most  innocent  of  the  whole  assemblage,  he  was  to 
claim,  not  merely  exemption  from  punishment, 
but  the  reward  of  some  high  and  honourable 
distinction  at  the  hands  of  the  magistrate.  He 
is  fully  aware  of  the  gap  that  lies  between  him 
and  the  administrators  of  justice, — is  sensible, 
that  though  he  deserves  to  be  beaten  witli 
fewer  stripes  than  others,  yet  still,  that,  in  the 
eye  of  the  law,  he  deserves  to  be  beaten;  and 
that  he  stands  at  as  hopeless  a  distance,  as  the 
most  depraved  of  his  fellows,  from  a  sentence 
of  complete  justification. 


ii)i  SERMON  VII.     . 

Let  us,  last  of  all,  go  along  with  these  male- 
factors to  the  scene  of  then'  banishment.  Let  us 
view  them  as  the  members  of  a  separated  com- 
munity :  and  we  shall  widely  mistake  it,  if  we 
think,  that  in  the  settlement  of  New  South 
Wales,  there  is  not  the  same  shading  of  moral 
Tariety,  there  is  not  the  same  gradation  of  cha- 
racter, there  is  not  the  s^me  scale  of  reputation, 
there  is  not  the  same  distribution  of  respect, 
there  is  not  the  same  pride  of  loftier  principle, 
and  debasement  of  more  shameful  and  abandon- 
ed profligacy,  there  is  not  the  same  triumph  of 
conscious  superiority  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
same  crouching  sense  of  unworthiness  on  the 
other,  which  you  find  in  the  more  decent,  and 
virtuous,  and  orderly  society  of  Europe.  Within 
the  limits  of  this  colony  there  exists  a  tribunal 
of  public  opinion,  from  which  praise  and  po- 
pularity, and  reproach,  are  awarded  in  various 
proportions  among  all  the  inhabitants.  And 
without  the  limits  of  this  colony  there  exists 
another  tribunal  of  public  opinion,  by  the 
voice  of  which  an  unexcepted  stigma  of  exclu- 
sion and  disgrace  is  cast  upon  every  one  of 
them.  Insomuch,  that  the  same  individual  may, 
by  a  nearer  judgment,  be  extolled  as  the 
best  and  the  most  distinguished  of  all  who  are 
around  him, — and,  by  a  more  distant  judgment, 
he  may  have  all  the  ignominy  of  an  outcast 
laid  upon  his  person  and  his  character.  He 
may,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  be  regaled  by 
the  applause  of  one  society,  and  held  in  right- 


SERMON  Vll.  16:) 

iul  execration  by  another  society.  In  the  for- 
mer, he  may  have  the  deference  of  a  positive 
regard  rendered  to  him  for  his  virtues,—  while, 
from  the  litter  he  is  justly  exiled  bj  the  hate- 
ful contamination  of  his  vices.  And  in  him  do 
we  behold  the  instructive  picture  of  a  man, 
vrho,atthebar  of  his  own  neighbourhood,  stands 
the  highest  in  moral  estimation, — while,  at  a 
higher  bar,  he  has  had  a  mark  of  foulest  iocno- 
miny  stamped  upon  him. 

We  want  not  to  shock  the  pride  or  the  deli- 
cacy of  your  feelings.  But,  on  a  question  so  high 
as  that  of  your  eternity,  we  want  to  extricate 
you  from  the  power  of  every  vain  and  bewilder- 
ing delusion.     We  want  to  urge  upon  you  the 
lesson  of  Scripture,  that  this  world  differs  from 
a  prison  house,   only  in  its  being  a  more  spa- 
cious receptacle  of  sinners, — and  that  there  is 
not  a  wider  distance,  in  point  of  habit  and  of 
judgment,  between  a  society  of  convicts,  and 
the  general  community  of  mankind,  than  there 
is  between  the  whole  community  of  our  species, 
and  the  society  of  that  paradise,  from  which, 
under  the  apostacy  of  our  fallen  nature,  we  have 
been  doomed  to  live  in  dreary  alienation.  We 
refuse  not  to  the  men  of  our  world  the  posses- 
sion of  many  high  and  honourable  virtues  :  but 
let  us  not  forget,  that  amongst  the  marauders 
of  the  highway,  we  hear  too  of  inflexible  faith, 
and  devoted  friendship,  and  splendid  genero- 
sity.    We  deny  not,  that  there  exist  amf)ng  our 
species,  as  much  truth  and  as  much  honesty, 


166  SERMON  VIL 

as  serve  to  keep  society  together  :  but  a  mea- 
sure of  the  very  same  principle  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  perpetuate  and  to  accomplish  the 
end  of  the  most  unrighteous  combinations.  W  e 
deny  not,  that  there  flourishes  on  the  face  of 
our  earth  a  moral  diversity  of  hue  and  of  cha^ 
racter,  and  that  there  are  the  better  and  the 
best  who  have  signalized  themselves  above  the 
level  of  its  general  population  :  but  so  it  is  in 
the  malefactor's  dungeon,  and  as  there,  so  here, 
may  a  positive  sentence  of  condemnation  be 
the  lot  of  the  most  exalted  individual.  We 
deny  not,  that  there  are  many  in  every  neigh- 
bourhood, to  whose  character,  and  whose  worth, 
the  cordial  tribute  of  admiration  is  awarded  ; 
but  the  very  same  thing  may  be  witnessed 
amongst  the  outcasts  of  every  civilized  ter- 
ritory,— and  what  they  are,  in  reference  to  the 
country  from  which  they  have  been  exiled,  we 
may  be,  in  reference  to  the  whole  of  God's  un- 
fallen  creation.  In  the  sight  of  men  we  may 
be  highly  esteemed, — and  we  may  be  an  abomi- 
nation in  the  sight  of  angels.  We  may  receive 
homage  from  our  immediate  neighbours  for  all 
the  virtues  of  our  relationship  with  them, — 
while  our  relationship  with  God  may  be  utterly 
dissolved,  and  its  appropriate  virtues  may  nei- 
ther be  recognized  nor  acted  on.  There  may 
emanate  from  our  persons  a  certain  beauteous- 
ness  of  moral  colouring  on  those  who  are  around 
us, — but  when  seen  through  the  universal  mo- 
rality of  God's  extended   and  all-pervading 


SERMON  VII.  167 

government,  we  may  look  as  hateful  as  the  out- 
casts of  felony, — and  living,  as  we  do,' in  a  re- 
bellious province,  that  has  .  broken  loose  from 
the  community  of  God's  loyal  and  obedient 
worshippers,  we  may,  at  one  and  the  same  time, 
be  surrounded  by  the  cordialities  of  an  ap- 
proving fellowship,  and  be  frowned  upon  by 
the  supreme  judicatory  of  the  universe.  At 
one  and  the  same  time,  we  may  be  regaled  by 
the  incense  of  this  world's  praise,  and  be  the 
objects  of  Heaven's  most  righteous  execration. 
But  is  this  the  real  place,  it  may  be  asked, 
that  our  world  occupies  in  the  moral  universe 
of  God  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  may  be 
obtained  either  out  of  the  historical  informations 
of  Scripture,  or  out  of  a  survey  that  may  be 
made  of  the  actual  character  of  man,  and  a  com- 
parison that  may  be  instituted  between  this 
character  and  the  divine  law.  We  can  conceive 
nothing  more  uniform  and  more  decisive  than 
the  testimony  of  the  Bible,  when  it  tells  us 
that  however  fair  some  may  be  in  the  eyes  of 
men,  yet  that  all  are  guilty  before  God ;  that 
in  his  eyes  none  are  righteous,  no  not  one:  that 
he,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity, 
finds  out  iniquity  in  every  one  of  us ;  that  there 
is  none  who  understandeth,  and  none  who 
seeketh  after  God;  that  however  much  we 
may  compare  ourselves  amongst  ourselves,  and 
found  a  complacency  upon  the  exercise,  yet 
that  we  have  altogether  gone  out  of  the  way; 
that  liQwever  distinctly  we  may  retain,  even  in 


168  SERMON  VIL 

the  midst  of  this  great  moral  rebellion,  our  re- 
lative Superiorities  ovet  each  other,  there  is  a 
wide  and  a  general  departure  of  the  species 
from  God ;  that  on^  and  all  of  us  have  deeply 
revolted  against  him ;  that  the  taint  of  a  most 
inveterate  spiritual  disease  has  overspread  all 
the  individuals  of  all  the  families  upon  earth ; 
insomuch,  that  the  heart  of  man  is  deceitful 
above  all  things  and  desperately  wicked,  and 
the  imaginations  of  his  thoughts  are  only  evil, 
and  that  continually. 

The  fall  of  Adam  is  represented,  in  the  Bi- 
ble, as  that  terribly  decisive  event,  on  vrhich 
took  place  this  deep  and  fatal  unhingement  of 
the  moral  constitution  of  our  species.  From 
this  period  the  malady  has  descended,  and  the 
whole  history  of  our  world  gives  evidence  to 
its  state  of  banishment  from  the  joys  and  the 
communications  of  paradise.  Before  the  en- 
trance of  sin  did  God  and  man  walk  in  sweet 
companionship  together,  and  saw  each  other 
face  to  face  in  the  security  of  a  garden.  A  lit- 
tle further  down  in  the  history,  we  meet  with 
another  ol  God's  recorded  manifestations.  We 
read  of  his  descent  in  thunder  upon  mount  Si- 
nai. O'w^hat  a  change  from  the  free  and  fear- 
less intercourse  of  Eden !  God,  though  sur- 
rouided  by  a  people  whom  he  had  himself  se- 
lected, here  sits,  if  we  may  use  the  expression, 
on  a  throite  of  awful  and  distant  ceremony; 
and  the  lifting  of  his  mio^hty  voice  scattered 
dismay  among  the  thousands  of  Israel.     When 


SERMON  VII.  165 

he  looked  now  on  the  children  of  men,  he 
looked  at  them  with  an  altered  countenance. 
The  dajs  were,  when  they  talked  together  in 
the  lovely  scenes  of  paradise  as  one  talketh  with 
a  friend.  But,  on  the  top  of  Sinai,  he  wraps 
himself  in  storms,  and  orders  to  set  bounds  about 
the  mount,  lest  the  people  should  draw  near, 
and  God  should  break  forth  upon  them. 

But  we  have  an  evidence  to  our  state  of  ba- 
nishment from  God,  which  is  nearer  home.    We 
have  it  in  our  own  hearts.     The  habitual  atti- 
tude  of  the  inner  man  is  not  an  attitude  of  sub- 
ordination to  God*     The  feeling  of  allegiance 
to  him  is  practically  and  almost  constantly  away 
from  us.     All  that  can  give  value  to  our  obedi- 
ence, in  the  sight  of  an  enlightened  Spirit  who 
looks  to  motive,  and  sentiment,  and  principle, 
has  constitutionally  no  place,  and  no  residence 
in  our  characters.     We  are  engrossed  by  other 
anxieties  than  anxiety  to  do  the  will,  and  to  pro- 
mote the  honour,  of  him  who  formed  us.     We 
are  animated  by  other  affections  altogether, 
than  love  to  him,  whose  right  hand  preserves 
us  continually.     That  Being  by  whom  we  are 
so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made;  whose  up- 
holding presence  it  is  that  keeps  us  in  life,  and 
in  movement,  and  in  the  exercise  of  all  our 
faculties ;  who  has  placed  us  on  the  theatre  of 
all  our  enjoyments,  and  claims  over  his  own 
creatures  the  ascendency  of  a  most  rightful 
authority ; — that  surely  is  the  Being  with  whom 
we  have  to  do.     ^nd  yet,  when  we  take  ac' 

22 


170  SERMOiN  VIL 

c^»unt  of  our  thoughts  and  of  our  doings,  how 
little  of  God  is  there !  In  the  random  play  and 
exhibition  of  such  feelings  as  instinctively  be- 
long to  us,  we  may  gather  around  us  the  admi- 
ration of  our  fellows  :  and  so  it  is  in  a  colony 
of  exiled  criminals.  But  as  much  wanting 
there,  as  is  the  homage  of  loyalty  to  the  go- 
vernment of  their  native  land  ;  so  much  want- 
ing here,  is  the  homage  of  any  deference  or 
inward  regard,  to  the  government  of  Heaven. 
And  yet  this  is  the  very  principle  of  all  that 
obedience,  which  Heaven  can  look  upon.  If 
it  be  true  that  no  obedience  is  rewardable  by 
God,  but  that  which  has  respect  unto  God, 
then  this  must  be  the  essential  point  on  which 
binges  the  difference  between  a  rebel,  and  a 
loyal  subject  to  the  supreme  Lawgiver.  The 
requirement  we  live  under  is  to  do  all  things 
to  bis  glory ;  and  this  is  the  measure  of  prin- 
ciple and  of  performance  that  will  be  set  over 
you :  and  tell  us,  ye  men  of  civil  and  relative 
propriety,  who,  by  exemplifying  in  the  eye  of 
vour  fellows  such  virtue,  as  may  be  exemplified 
by  the  outcasts  of  banishment,  have  shed  around 
your  persons  the  tiny  lustre  of  this  world's  mo- 
ralities ;  tell  us,  how  you  will  be  able  to  stand 
such  a  severe  and  righteous  application.^  The 
measure  by  which  we  compare  ourselves  with 
ourselves,  is  not  the  measure  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. When  the  judge  comes  to  take  account 
of  us,  he  will  come  fraught  with  the  maxims 
of  a  celestial  jurisprudence,  and  his  question 


SERMON  VII.  171 

will  be,  not,  what  have  you  done  at  the  shrine 
of  popularity, — not,  what  have  you  done  to  sus- 
tain a  character  amongst  men, — not,  what  have 
you  done  at  the  mere  impulse  of  sensibilities 
however  amiable,  or  ofnative  principles  however 
upright,  and  elevated,  and  manly, — but  what 
have  you  done  unto  me  ?  how  much  of  God, 
and  of  God's  will,  was  there  in  the  principle  of 
your  doings  ?  This  is  the  heavenly  measure, 
and  it  w  ill  set  aside  all  your  earthly  measures 
and  comparisons.  It  will  sweep  away  all  these 
refuges  of  lies  The  man  whose  accomplish- 
ments of  character,  however  lively,  were  all  so- 
cial, and  worldly,  and  relative,  will  hang  his  head 
in  confusion  when  the  utter  wickedness  of  his 
pretensions  is  thus  laid  open, — when  the  God 
who  gave  him  every  breath,  and  endowed  him 
with  every  faculty,  inquires  after  his  share  ot" 
i-everence  and  acknowledgment, — when  he 
tells  him  from  the  judgment-seat,  I  was  the 
Being  with  whom  you  had  to  do,  and  yet  in 
the  vast  multiplicity  of  your  doings,  I  was  sel- 
dom or  never  thought  of, — when  he  convicts 
him  of  habitual  forgetfulness  of  God,  and  set- 
ting aside  all  the  paltry  measurements  which 
men  apply  in  their  estimates  of  one  another,  he 
brings  the  high  standard  of  Heaven's  law,  and 
Heaven's  allegiance  tabear  upon  them. 

It  must  be  quite  palpable  to  any  man  who 
has  seen  much  of  life,  and  still  more  if  he  has 
travelled  extensively,  and  witnessed  the  varied 
complexions  of  morality  that  obtain  in  distant 


172  SERMON  VII. 

societies,-— it  must  be  quite  obvious  to  such  a 
man,  how  i^eadily  the  moral  feeling,  in  each  of 
them,  accommodates  itself  to  the  general  state 
of  practice  and  observation, — that  the  practices 
of  one  country,  for  which  there  is  a  most  com-^ 
placent  toleration,  would  be  shuddered  at  as 
so  many  atrocities  in  another  country, — that  in 
every  given  neighbourhood,  the  sense  of  right 
and  of  wrong,  becomes  just  as  fine  or  as  obtuse 
as  to  square  with  its  average  purity,  and  its 
average  humanity,  and  its  average  uprightness, 
— that  what  would  revolt  the  public  feeling  of  a 
retired  parish  in  Scotland  a^^  gross  licentious- 
ness or  outrageous  cruelty,  might  attach  no  dis- 
grace whatever  to  a  residenter  in  some  coloni- 
al settlement, — that,  nevertheless,  in  the  more 
corrupt  and  degraded  of  the  two  communities, 
there  is  a  scale  of  differences,  a  range  of  cha- 
racter, along  which  are  placed  the  comparative 
stations  of  the  disreputable,  and  the  passable, 
and  the  respectable,  and  the  superexcellent ; 
and  yet  it  is  a  very  possible  thing,  that  if  a 
man  in  the  last  of  these  stations  w  ere  to  import 
all  his  habits  and  all  his  profligacies  into  his 
native  land,  superexcellent  as  he  may  be 
abroad,  at  home  he  would  be  banished  from 
the  general  association  of  virtuous  and  well 
ordered  families.  Now  all  we  ask  of  you  is, 
to  transfer  this  consideration  to  the  matter  be- 
fore us, — to  think  how  possible  a  thing  it  is, 
that  the  moral  principle  of  the  world  at  large, 
may  have  sunk  to  a  peaceable  and  approving 


SERMON  VII.  173 

acquiescence  in  the  existing  practice  of  the 
world  at  large, — that  the  security  which  is  in- 
spired by  the  habit  of  measuring  ourselves  by 
ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves  amongst 
ourselves,  may  therefore  be  a  delusion  altoge- 
ther,— that  the  very  best  member  of  socrety 
upon  earth,  may  be  utterly  unfit  for  the  society 
of  heaven,  that  the  morality  which  is  current 
here,  may  depend  upon  totally  another  set  of 
priniples  from  the  morality  which  is  held  to  be 
indispensable  there ;— and   when    we    gather 
these  principles  from  the  book  of  God's  reve- 
lation,—when  we  are  told  that  the  law  of  the 
two  great  commandments  is,  to  love  the  Lord 
our  God  with  all  our  strength,  and  heart,  and 
mind,  and  to  bear  the  same  love  to  our  neigh- 
bour that  we  do  to  ourselves,— the  argument 
advances  from  a  conjecture  to  a  certainty,  that 
every  inhabitant  of  earth,  when  brought  to  the 
bar  of  Heaven's  judicature,  is  altogether  want- 
ing ;  and  that  unless  some  great  moral  renova- 
tion take  effect  upon  him,  he  can  never  be  ad- 
mitted within  the  limits  of  the  empire  of  right- 
eousness. 


SERMON    VIII. 

Christ  the  wisdom  of  god. 


'  Christ  the  wisdom  of  God." 

1  Corinthians  i.  24._ 

We  cannot  but  remark  of  the  Bible,  how  uni= 
formly  and  how  decisively  it  announces  itself  in 
all  its  descriptions  of  the  state  and  character  of 
man, — how,  without  offering  to  palliate  the  mat- 
ter, it  brings  before  us  the  totality  of  our  aliena- 
tion,— ho  wit  represents  us  to  be  altogether  bro- 
ken off  from  our  allegiance  to  God, — and  how 
it  fears  not,  in  the  face  of  those  undoubted  di- 
versities of  character  which  exist  in  the  world, 
to  assert  of  the  whole  world,  that  it  is  guilty 
before  him.  And  if  we  would  only  seize  on 
what  may  be  called  the  elementary  principle  of 
guilt, — if  we  would  only  take  it  along  with  us, 
that  guilt,  in  reference  to  God,  must  consist  in 
the  defection  of  our  regard,  and  our  reverence 
from  him, — if  we  would  only  open  our  eyes  to 
the  undoubted  fact,  that  there  may  be  such  an 
utter  defection,  and  yet  there  may  be  many  an 
amiable,  and  many  a  graceful  exhibition,  both 


SERMON  VIII.  175 

of  feeling  and  of  conduct,  in  reference  to  those 
who  are  around  us, — then  should  we  recognize, 
in  the  statements  of  the  Bible,  a  vigorous,  dis- 
cerning, and  intelligent  view  of  human  nature, — 
an  unfaltering  announcement,  of  what  that 
nature  essentially  is,  under  all  the  plausibilities 
which  serve  to  disguise  it, — and  such  an  in- 
sight, in  fact,  into  the  secrecies  of  our  inner 
man,  as  if  carried  home  by  that  Spirit,  whose 
office  it  is  to  apply .  the  word  with  power  into 
the  conscience,  is  enough,  of  itself,  to  stamp 
upon  this  book,  the  evidence  of  the  Divinity 
which  inspired  it. 

But  it  is  easier  far  to  put  an  end  to  the  resis- 
tance of  the  understanding,  than  to  alarm  the 
fears,  or  to  make  the  heart  soft  and  tender,  un- 
der a  sense  of  its  guiltiness,  or  to  prompt  the 
inquiry, — if  all  those  securities,  within  the  en- 
trenchments of  which  I  want  to  take  my  quiet 
and  complacent  repose,  are  thus  driven  in, 
where  in  the  whole  compass  of  nature  or  re- 
velation can  any  effectual  security  be  found  ? 
It  may  be  easy  to  find  our  way  amongst  all  the 
complexional  varieties  of  our  nature,  to  its  ra- 
dical and  pervading  ungodliness ;  and  thus  to 
carry  the  acquiescence  of  the  judgment  in 
some  extended  demonstration  about  the  utter 
sinfulness  of  the  species.  But  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  point  this  demonstration  towards  the  bosom 
of  any  individual, — to  gather  it  up,  as  it  were, 
from  its  state  of  diffusion  over  the  whole  field 
of  humanity,  and  send  it,  with  all  its  energies 


J  76  SERMOJN  VIll. 

concentered  to  a  single  heart,  in  the  form  of  a 
^harp,    and  humbhng,   and  terrifying  convic- 
tion,— to  make  it  enter  the  conscience  of  some 
one  listener,  like  an  arrow  sticking  fast, —or, 
when  the  appalling  picture  of  a  whole  world 
lying  in  wickedness,  is  thus  presented  to  the 
understanding  of  a  general  audience,  to  make 
each  of  that  audience  mourn  apart  over  his 
own  wickedness ;  just  as  when,  on  the  day  of 
judgment,  though  all  that  is  visible  be  shaking, 
and  dissolving,  and  giving  way,  each  despair- 
ing eye-witness  shall  mourn  apart  over  the  re- 
collection of  his  own  guilt,  over  the  prospect 
of  his  own  rueful  and  undone  eternity.     And 
yet,  if  this  be  not  done,  nothing  is  done.     The 
lesson  of  the  text  has  come  to  you  in  word  only, 
and  not  in  power.     To  look  to  the  truth  in  its 
generality,  is  one  thing;  to  look  to  your  own 
separate  concern  in  it,  is  another.     What  we 
want  is  that  each  of  you  shall  turn  his  eye 
homewards;    that  each  shall  purify  his  own 
heart  from  the  influence  of  a  delusion  which 
we  pronounce  to  be  ruinous ;  that  each  shall 
beware  of  leaning  a  satisfaction,  or  a  triumph, 
on  the  comparison  of  himself  with  corrupt  and 
exiled  men,  whom  sin  has  degraded  into  out- 
casts from  the  presence  of  God,  and  the  joys 
of  paradise;  that  each  of  you  shall  look  to  the 
measure  of  God's  law,  so  that  when  the  com- 
mandment comes  upon  you,  in  the  sense  of  its 
exceediiior  broadness,  a  sense  of  your  sin,  and 
of  your  death  in  sin,  may  come  along  with  it. 


SERMON  Vm.  177 

••  Without  the  commandment  I  was  alive,*'  says 
the  Apostle;  "but  when  the  commandment 
came,  sin  revived,  and  I  died."  Be  assured, 
that  if  the  utterance  of  such  truth  in  your  hear- 
ing, impress  no  personal  earnestness,  and  lead 
to  no  personal  measures,  and  be  followed  up 
by  no  personal  movements,  then  to  you  it  is  as 
a  sounding  brass  and  as  a  tinkling  cymbal. 
The  preacher  has  been  beating  the  air.  That 
great  Agent,  whose  revealed  office  it  is  to  con- 
vince of  sin,  has  refused  to  go  along  with  him. 
Another  influence  altogether,  than  that  which 
is  salutary  and  saving,  has  been  sent  into  your 
bosom;  and  the  glow  of  the  truth  universal 
lias  deafened  or  intercepted  the  application  of 
the  truth  personal,  and  of  the  truth  particular. 

This  leads  us  to  the  second  thing  proposed 
in  our  last  discourse,  under  which  we  shall 
attempt  to  explain  the  wisdom  opposite  to  that 
folly  of  measuring  ourselves  by  ourselves,  and 
comparing  ourselves  among  ourselves,  which 
we  have  already  attempted  to  expose. 

The  first  step  is  to  give  up  all  satisfaction 
with  yourselves,  on  the  bare  ground,  that  your 
conduct  comes  up  to  the  measure  of  human 
character,  and  human  reputation  around  you. 
This  consideration  may  be  of  importance  to 
your  place  in  society;  but,  as  to  your  place  in 
the  favour  of  God,  it  is  utterly  insignificant. 
The  moral  differences  which  obtain  in  a  com- 
munity of  exiles,  are  all  quite  consistent  with 
the  entire  obliteration  amongst  them,  o{  the 
23 


178  SERxMON  Vlll. 

allegiance  that  is  due  to  the  government  of 
their  native  land.  And  the  moral  differences 
which  obtain  in  the  world,  may,  in  every  way, 
be  as  consistent  with  the  fact,  that  one  and  all 
of  u^,  in  our  state  of  nature,  are  alienated  from 
God  by  wicked  works.  And,  in  like  manner, 
as  convicts  may  be  all  alive  to  a  sense  of  their 
reciprocal  obligations,  while  dead  in  feeling 
and  in  principle,  to  the  supreme  obligation  un- 
der which  they  lie  to  the  sovereign, — so  may 
we,  in  reference  to  our  fellowmen,  have  a  sense 
of  rectitude,  and  honour,  and  compassion,while^ 
in  reference  to  God,  we  may  labour  under  the 
entire  extinction  of  every  moral  sensibility, — 
so  that  the  virtues  which  signalize  us,  may,  in 
the  language  of  some  of  our  old  divines,  be  nei- 
ther more  nor  less  than  splendid  sins.  With 
the  possession  of  these  virtues,  we  may  not 
merely  be  incurring  every  day  the  guilt  of  tres- 
passing and  sinning  against  our  Maker  in  hea- 
ven; but  devoid,  as  we  are,  of  all  apprehension 
of  the  enormity  of  this,  we  may  strikingly  real- 
ize the  assertion  of  the  Bible,  that  weare  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins.  And  we  pass  our  time 
in  all  the  tranquiUity  of  death.  We  say  peace, 
when  there  is  no  peace.  Though  in  a  state  of 
disruption  from  God,  we  live  as  securely  and  as 
inconsiderately  as  if  there  were  no  question  and 
no  controversy  betwixt  us.  About  this  whole 
matter,  there  is  within  us,  a  spirit  of  heaviness 
and  of  deep  slumber.  We  lie  fast  asleep  on  the 
brink  of  an  unprovided  eternity, — and,  if  possi- 


SERMON  VIll.  179 

hie  to  awaken  you,  let  us  urge  you  to  compare, 
not  your  own  conduct  with  that  of  acquain- 
tances and  neighbours,  but  to  compare  your 
own  finding  of  the  ungodliness  that  is  in  your 
heart  with  the  doctrine  of  God's  word  about  it — 
to  bring  down  the  loftiness  of  your  spirit  to  its 
humbling  declarations — to  receive  it  as  a  faith- 
ful saying,  that  man  is  lost  by  nature,  and  that 
unless  there  be  some  mighty  transition,  in  his 
history,  from  a  state  of  nature  to  a  state  of  sal- 
vation, the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him. 

The  next  inquiry  comes  to  be.  What  is  this 
transition  ?  Tell  me  the  step  I  should  take,  and 
I  will  take  it.  It  is  not  enough,  then,  that  you 
exalt  upon  your  own  person  the  degree  of  those 
virtues,  by  which  you  have  obtained  a  credit  and 
a  distinction  among  men.  It  is  not  enough,  that 
you  throw  a  brighter  and  a  lovlierhue  over  your 
social  accomplishments.  It  is  not  enough,  that 
you  multiply  the  offerings  of  your  charity,  or 
observe  a  more  rigid  compliance,  than  hereto- 
fore with  all  the  requisitions  of  justice.  All 
this  you  may  do,  and  yet  the  great  point,  on 
which  your  controversy  with  God  essentially 
.hinges,  may  not  be  so  much  as  entered  upon. 
All  this  you  may  do,  and  yet  obtain  no  nearer 
approximation  to  Him  whosittethon  tlie  throne, 
than  the  outlaws  of  an  offended  government  for 
their  fidelities  to  each  other.  To  the  eye  of 
man  you  may  be  fairer  than  before,  and  in  civil 
estimation  be  greatly  more  righteous  than  be*^ 
fore, — and  yet,  with  the  unquelled  spirit  of  im~ 


180  SERMON  Vlli. 

piety  within  you,  and  as  habitual  an  indifference 
as  ever  to  all  the  subordinating  claims  of  the 
divine  will  over  your  heart  and  your  conduct, 
you  may  stand  at  as  wide  a  distance  from  God 
as  before.  And  besides,  how  are  we  to  dispose 
of  the  whole  guilt  of  your  past  iniquities  ? 
Whether  is  it  the  malefactor  or  the  Lawgiver 
who  is  to  arbitrate  this  question  ?  God  may  re- 
mit our  sins ;  but  it  is  for  him  to  proclaim  this. 
God  may  pass  them  over ;  but  it  is  for  him  to 
issue  the  deed  of  amnesty.  God  may  have 
found  out  a  way  whereby,  in  consistency  with 
his  own  character,  and  with  the  stability  of  his 
august  government,  he  may  take  sinners  into  re- 
conciliation ;  but  it  is  for  him  both  to  devise  and 
to  publish  this  way ; — and  we  must  just  do  what 
convicts  do ;  when  they  obtain  a  mitigation  or 
a  cancelment  of  the  legal  sentence  under  which 
they  lie, — we  must  passively  accept  of  it,  on  the 
terms  of  the  deed, — we  must  look  to  the  war- 
rant as  issued  by  the  sovereign,  and  take  the 
boon  or  fulfil  the  conditions,  just  as  it  is  there 
presented  to  us.  The  question  is  between  us 
and  God;  and,  in  the  adjustment  of  this  ques- 
tion, we  must  look  singly  to  the  expression  of 
his  will,  and  feel  that  it  is  with  him,  and  with 
his  authority,  that  we  have  exclusively  to  do. 
In  one  word,  we  must  wait  his  own  revelation, 
and  learn  from  his  own  mouth  how  it  is  that 
he  would  have  us  to  come  nigh  unto  him. 

Let  us  go  then  to  the  record.     "  No  man 
cometh  unto  the  Father  but  through  the  Son.'' 


SERMON  Vm.  181 

^'  There  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven, 
but  the  name  of  Jesus,  whereby  we  can  be  sav- 
ed."    "  Without  the  shedding  of  blood  there 
is    no   remission  of  sin;  and  "God  hath- set 
forth  Christ  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith 
in  his  blood."     "  He  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many,— and   "  became  sin  for  us, 
though  he  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made 
the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."     '•  God  is  in 
Christ  reconciling, the  world  unto  himself,  and 
not   imputing    unto    them    their    trespasses." 
i'  Justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ;"— "  and  we  be- 
come the  children  of  God,  through  the  faith 
that  is  in  Christ  Jesus."     We  are  "  reconciled 
to  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son,"— "and  by  his 
obedience   are  many  made  righteous,"— and 
«  where   sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more 
abound"     These  verses  sound  foolishness  to 
many ;  but  the  cross  of  Christ  is  fooUshness  to 
those  that  perish.  They  appear  to  them  invest- 
ed with  all  the  mysteriousness  of  a  dark  and  hid- 
den saying ;  but  if  this  Gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid 
to  them  which  are  lost.     They  have  eyes  that 
they  cannot  see  the  wondrous  things  contani- 
ed  in  this  book  of  God's  communication ;  but 
they  have  minds  whichbeHevenot,because  they 
are  blinded  by  the  god  of  this  world,  lest  the 
light  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of  Christ,  who  is 
the  image  of  God,  should  shine  into  them. 

And  here  we  cannot  but  insist  on  the  utter 
hopelessness  of  their  circumstances,  who  hear 


182  SERMON  VIII. 

these  overtures  of  reconciliation,  but  will  not  lis- 
ten to  them.  Theirs  is  just  the  case  of  rebels 
turning  their  back  on  a  deed  of  grace  and  of 
amnesty.  We  are  quite  confident  in  stating  it 
to  be  the  stubborn  experience  of  human  nature, 
that  all  who  reject  Christ,  as  he  is  offered  in  the 
Gospel,  persist  in  that  radical  ungodliness  of 
character  on  which  the  condemnation  of  our 
world  mainly  and  essentially  rests.  And  as  they 
thus  refuse  to  build  their  security  on  the  founda- 
tion of  his  merits, — what,  we  would  ask,  is  the 
other  foundation  on  which  they  build  it?  If  ever 
they  think  seriously  of  the  matter,  or  feel  any 
concern  about  a  foundation  on  which  they  might 
rest  their  confidence  before  God,  they  con- 
ceive it  to  lie  in  such  feelings,  and  such  hu- 
manities, and  such  honesties,  as  make  them  even 
with  the  world,  or  as  elevate  them  to  a  certain 
degree  abovethelevelof  the  world's  population. 
These  are  the  materials  of  the  foundation  on 
which  they  build.  It  is  upon  the  possession 
of  virtues  which  in  truth  have  not  God  for 
their  object,  that  they  propose  to  support  in 
the  presence  of  God  the  attitude  of  fearlessness 
It  is  upon  the  testimony  of  fellow-rebels  that 
they  brave  the  judgment  of  the  Being  who  has 
pronounced  of  them  all,  that  they  have  deeply 
revolted  against  him.  And  all  this  in  the  face 
of  God's  high  prerogative,  to  make  and  to  pub- 
lish his  own  overtures.  All  this  in  contempt 
of  that  Mediator,  whom  he  has  appointed.  All 
this  in  resistance  to  the  authentic  deed  of  grace 


SERMON  VIII.  183 

and  of  forgiveness,  which  has  been  sent  to  our 
world,  and  from  which  we  gather  the  full  as- 
surance of  God's  willingness  to  be  reconciled  ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  are  expressly  bound 
down  to  that  particular  way  in  which  he  hath 
chosen  to  dispense  reconciliation.  Who  does 
not  see,  that,  in  these  circumstances,  the  guilt 
of  sin  is  fearfully  aggravated  on  the  part  of 
sinners,  by  their  rejection  of  the  Gospel  ?  Who 
does  not  see,  that  thus  to  refuse  the  grant  of 
everlasting  life  in  the  terms  of  the  grant,  is 
just  to  set  an  irretrievable  seal  upon  their 
own  condemnation  ?  Who  does  not  see,  that, 
in  the  act  of  declining  to  take  the  shelter 
which  is  held  out  to  them,  they  vainly  imagine, 
that  God  will  let  down  his  approbation,  to  such 
performances  as  are  utterly  devoid  of  any  spirit 
of  devout  or  dutiful  allegiance  to  the  Law- 
giver ?  This  is,  in  fact,  a  dehberate  posting  of 
themselves,  and  that  more  firmly  and  more 
obstinately  than  ever,  on  the  ground  of  their 
rebellion, — and  let  us  no  longer  wonder,  then, 
at  the  terms  of  that  alternative  of  which  we  read 
so  often  in  the  Bible.  We  there  read,  that  if 
we  believe  we  shall  be  saved;  but  we  also  read, 
that  if  we  believe  not,  we  shall  be  damned.  We 
are  there  told  of  the  great  salvation ;  but  how 
shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  it.-^  We  are  there 
invited  to  lay  hold  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  savour 
of  life  unto  life :  but,  if  w^e  refuse  the  invita- 
tion, it  shall  be  to  us  the  savour  of  death  unto 
death.     The  Gospel  is  there  freely  proclaimed 


184  SERMON  VHI. 

to  us,  for  our  acceptance  ;  but  if  we  will  not 
obey  the  Gospel,  we  shall  be  punished  with  ever- 
lasting destruction  from  the  presence  of  the 
Saviour's  power.  We  are  asked  to  kiss  the  Son 
while  he  is  in  the  way ;  but  if  we  do  not,  the  al- 
ternative is  that  he  will  be  angry,  and  that  his 
wrath  will  burn  against  us.  He  is  revealed  to 
us  as  a  sure  rock,  on  which,  if  we  lean  we  shall 
not  be  confounded :  but  if  we  shift  our  depen- 
dence away  from  it,  it  will  fall  upon  us  and 
grind  us  to  powder. 

And  this  alternative,  so  far  from  a  matter 
to  be  wondered  at,  appears  resolvable  into  a 
principle  that  might  be  easily  comprehended. 
God  is  the  party  sinned  against:  and  if  he 
have  the  will  to  be  reconciled,  it  is  surely  for 
him  to  prescribe  the  way  of  it :  and  this  he  has 
actually  done  in  the  revelation  of  the  New 
Testament :  and  whether  he  give  a  reason  for 
the  way  or  not,  certain  it  is,  that  in  order  to 
give  it  accomplishment,  he  sent  his  eternal  Son 
into  our  world ;  and  this  descent  was  accom- 
panied with  such  circumstances  of  humiliation, 
and  conflict,  and  deep  suffering,  that  heaven 
looked  on  with  astonishment,  and  earth  was 
bidden  to  rejoice,  because  of  her  great  salva- 
tion. It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  God 
lavished  on  this  plan  the  riches  of  a  wisdom 
that  is  unsearchable  ;  that,  in  the  hearing  of  sin- 
ful men,  he  has  proclaimed  its  importance  and 
its  efficacy ;  that  every  Gospel  messenger  felt 
himself  charged,  with  tidings  pregnant  of  joy, 


SERMON  VIII.  185 

and  of  mighty  deliverance  to  the  world.  And 
we  ask  you  just  to  conceive,  in  these  circum- 
stances, what  effect  it  should  have  on  the  mind 
of  the  insulted  Sovereign,  if  the  world,  instead 
of  responding,  with  grateful  and  delighted  wel- 
come, to  the  message,  shall  either  nauseate  its 
terms,  or,  feeling  in  them  no  significancy,  shall 
turn  with  indifference  away  from  it  ?  Are  we  at 
all  to  wonder  if  the  King,  very  wroth  with  the 
men  of  such  a  world,  shall  at  length  send  his  ar- 
mies to  destroy  it  ?  Do  you  think  it  likely  that 
the  sameGod,who,  after  we  had  brokenhis  com- 
mandment, was  willing  to  pass  by  our  transgres- 
sions, will  be  equally  willing  to  pass  them  by, 
after  we  have  thus  despised  the  proclamation 
of  his  mercy;  after  his  forbearance  and  his  long- 
suffering  have  been  resisted  ;  and  that  scheme 
of  pardon,  with  the  weight  and  the  magnitude 
of  which  angels  appear  to  labour  in  amazement, 
is  received  by  the  very  men  for  whom  it  was 
devised,  as  a  thing  of  no  estimation  ?  Surely,  if 
there  had  been  justice  in  the  simple  and  im- 
mediate punishment  of  sin — this  justice  will  be 
discharged  instill  brighter  manifestation  on  him, 
who,  in  the  face  of  such  an  embassy,  holds  out 
in  his  determination  to  brave  it.  And,  if  it  be  a 
righteous  thing  in  God  to  avenge  every  viola- 
tion of  his  law,  how  clearly  and  how  irresistibly 
righteous  will  it  appear,  when,  on  the  great  day 
of  his  wrath,  he  taketh  vengeance  On  those  who 
have  added  to  the  violation  of  his  Kw,  the  re- 
jection of  the  Gospel ! 

24 


IH6  SERMOiN  VIIL 

But  what  is  more  than  this — God  hath  con- 
descended to  make  known  to  us  a  reason,  for 
that  peculiar  way  of  reconciliation,  which  he 
hath  set  before  us.    It  is  that  he  might  be  just, 
while  the  justiiier  of  those  who  beheve  in  Jesus, 
In  the  dispensation  of  his  mercy,  he  had  to  pro- 
vide for  the  dignity  of  his  throne.     He  had  to 
guard  the  stabihty  of  his  truth,  and  of  his  right- 
eousness.    He  had  to  pour  the  lustre  of  a  high 
and  awful  vindication,  over  the  attributes  of  a 
nature  that  is  holy  and  unchangeable.  He  had 
to  make  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men 
meet  and  be  at  one,  with  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest ;  and  for  this  purpose  did  the  eternal 
Son  pour  out  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,  and 
by  his  obedience  unto  death,  bring  in  an  ever- 
lasting righteousness.  It'is  through  the  channel 
of  this  great  expiation  that  the  guilt  of  every 
believer  is  washed  away;  and  it  is  through  the 
imputed  merits  of  him  with  whom  the  Fathef 
was  well  pleased,  that  every  believer  is  admit- 
led  to  the  rewards  of  a  perfect  obedience.  Con- 
ceive any  man  of  this  world  to  reject  the  offers 
of  reward  and  forgiveness  in  this  way,  and  to 
look  for  them  m  another.  Conceive  him  to  chal- 
lenge the  direct  approbation  of  his  Judge,  on 
the  measure  of  his  own  worth,  and  his  own 
performances,  and  to  put  away  from  him  that 
righteousness    of  Christ,    in  the  measure   of 
^vhich  there  is  no  short-comiiig.     Is  he  not,  by 
this  attitude,  holding  out  against  God,  and  that 
too  on  a  question  in  which  the  justice  of  God 


SERMON  VIIL  187 

stands  committed  against  him  .'^     Is   not   the 
poor  sinner  of  a  day  eiitering  into  a  fearful  con- 
troversy, with  all  the  plans,  and  all  the  perfec- 
tions of  the  Eternal  ?     Might  not  you  conceive 
every  attribute  of  the  Divinity,  gathering  into 
a  frown  of  deeper  indignation  against  the  da- 
ringness  of  him,  who  thus  demands  the  favour 
of  the  Almighty  on  some  plea  of  his  own,  and 
resolutely  declines  it  on  that  only  plea,  under 
which  the  acceptance  of  the  sinner  can  be  in 
harmony  with  the  glories  of  God's  holy  and  in- 
violable character  ?     Surely,  if  we  have  fallen 
short  of  the  obedience  of  his  law,  and  so  short, 
as  to  have  renounced  altogether  that  godliness 
which  imparts   to  obedience  its  spiritual  and 
substantial  quality, — then  do  w^e  aggravate  the 
enormity  of  our  sin,  by  building  our  hope  before 
God  on  a  foundation  of  sin  ?     To  sin  is  to  defy 
God :  but  the  very  presumption  that  he  will 
smile  complacency  upon  it,  involves  in  it  an- 
other, and  a  still  more  deliberate  attack  upon 
his  government;  and  all  its  sanctions,  and  all  its 
severities,    are   let  loose  upon  us  in  greater 
force  and  abundance  than  before,  if  we  either 
rest  upon  our  own  virtue,  or  mix  up  this  pollu^ 
ted  ingredient  w  ith  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
and  refuse  our  single,  entire,  and  undivided  re- 
liance on  him,  who  alone  has  magnified  the 
law  and  made  it  honourable. 

But  such,  if  we  may  be  allowed  the  expres- 
sion, is  the  constitution  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  that,  in  proportion  to  the  terror  which  it 


188  SERMON  VIII 

holds  out  to  those  who  neglect  it,  is  the  securi- 
ty that  it  provides  to  all,  who  flee  for  refuge  to 
the  hope  which  is  set  before  them.  Paul  un- 
derstood this  well,  when,  though  he  proiited 
over  many  of  his  equals  in  his  own  nation, — 
when  though  had  he  measured  himself  by  them, 
he  might  have  gathered  from  the  comparison  a 
feeling  of  proud  superiority, — when  though  in 
all  that  was  counted  righteous  amongst  his  fel- 
lows, he  signalized  himself  in  general  estima- 
tion,— yet  he  willingly  renounced  a  dependence 
upon  all,  that  he  might  win  Christ,  and  be 
found  in  him,  not  having  his  own  righteousness 
which  was  of  the  law,  but  that  righteousness 
which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  even  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith.  He  felt 
the  force  of  the  alternative,  between  the  former 
and  the  latter  righteousness.  He  knew  that  the 
one  admitted  of  no  measurement  with  the  other; 
and  that  whatever  appearance  of  worth  it  had 
in  the  eyes  of  men,  when  brought  to  their  re- 
lative and  earthly  standard,  it  was  reduced  to 
nothing,  and  worse  than  nothing,  when  brought 
to  the  standard  of  Heaven's  holy  and  unaltera- 
ble law.  Jesus  Christ  has  in  our  nature  fulfil- 
led this  law;  and  it  is  in  the  righteousness 
which  he  thus  wrought,  that  we  are  invited  to 
stand  before  God.  You  do  not  then  take  in  a 
full  impres'sion  of  Gospel  security,  if  you  only 
believe  that  God  is  merciful,  and  has  forgiven 
you.  You  are  called  further  to  believe,  that 
God  is  righteous,  and  has  justified  you.     You 


SERMON  Vlir.  189 

have  a  warrant  to  put  on  the  righteousness  of. 
Christ  as  a  robe  and  as  a  diadem,  and  to  go  to 
the  throne  of  grace  with  the  petition  of,  Look 
upon  me  in  the  face  of  him  who  hath  fulfilled 
all  righteousness.  You  are  furnished  with  such 
a  measure  of  righteousness  as  God  can  accept, 
without  letting  down  a  single  attribute  which 
belongs  to  him.  The  truth,  and  the  justice, 
and  the  holmes,  which  stands  in  such  threat- 
ening array  against  the  sinner  who  is  out  of 
Christ,  now  form  into  a  shield  and  a  hiding- 
place  around  him.  And  while  he  who  trusts 
in  the  general  mercy  of  God  does  so  at  the 
expense  of  his  whole  character,  he  who  trusts 
in  the  mercy  of  God,  which  hath  appeared 
unto  all  men  through  the  Saviour,  offers  in  that 
act  of  confidence  an  homage  to  every  perfec- 
tion of  the  Divinity,  and  has  every  perfection 
of  the  Divinity  upon  his  side.  And  thus  it  is, 
that  under  the  economy  of  redemption,  we  now 
read,  not  merely  of  God  being  merciful,  but  of 
God  being  just  and  faithful  in  forgiving  our 
sins,  and  in  cleansing  us  from  all  our  unright- 
eousness. 

Thus  much  for  what  may  be  called  the  judi- 
cial ris;ht€ousn€SS,  with  which  every  believer  is 
invested  by  having  the  merits  of  Christ  imput- 
ed to  him  through  faith.  But  this  faith  is 
something  more  than  a  name.  It  takes  up  a 
positive  residence  in  the  mind  as  a  principle. 
It  has  locality  and  operation  there,  and  has 
either  no  existence  at  all,  or  by  its  purifying 


190  SERMON  VIU. 

and  reforming  influence  on  the  holder  of  it,  does 
it  invest  him  also  with  a  personal  righteousness. 
Now,  to  apply  the  conception  of  our  text  to 
this  personal  righteousness,  the  first  thing  we 
would  say  of  it  is,  that  it  admits  of  no  measure- 
ments whatever  with  the  social  worth,  or  the 
moral  virtue,  or  any  other  of  the  personal  ac- 
complishments  of  character,  which  may  belong 
to  those  who  have  not  the  faith  of  the  Gospel. 
Faith  accepts  of  the  offered  reconciliation,  and 
moves  away  from  the  alienated  heart  those  sus- 
picions, and  aversions,  and  fears,  which  kept 
man  asunder  from  his  God.    We  would  not  say, 
then,  of  the  personal  righteousness  of  a  believ- 
er, that  it  consisted  in  a  higher  degree  of  that 
virtue  which  may  exist  in  a  lower  degree  with 
him  who  is  not  a  believer.     It  consists  in  the 
dawn,  and  the  progress,  and  the  perfecting  of 
a  virtue,  which,  before  he  was  a  beHever,  had 
no  existence  whatever.     It  consists  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  character,  of  which,  previous  to  his 
acceptance  of  Christ,  he  had  not  the  smallest 
feature  of  reality;  though  to  the  external  eye^ 
there  may  have  been  some  features  of  resem- 
blance.    The  principle  of  Christian  sanctifica- 
tion,  which,  if  we  were  to  express  it  by  another 
name,  we  would  call  devotedness  to  God,  is 
no  more  to  be  found  in  the  unbelieving  world, 
than  the  principle  of  an  allegiance  to  their 
rightful  sovereign,  is  to  be  found  among  the  out- 
casts of  banishment.     It  is  not  by  any  stretch- 
mg  out  of  the  measuiii  of  your  former  virtues. 


SERMON  VIII.  191 

then,  that  you  can  attain  this  principle.  There 
needs  to  be  originated  within  you  a  new  virtue 
altogether.  It  is  not  by  the  fostering  of  that 
which  is  old, — it  is  by  the  creation  of  some- 
thing new,  that  a  man  comes  to  have  the  per- 
sonal righteousness  of  a  disciple  of  the  New 
Testament.  It  is  by  giving  existence  to  that 
which  formerly  had  no  existence.  And  let  us 
no  longer  wonder,  then,  at  the  magnitude  of 
the  terms  which  are  employed  in  the  Bible,  to 
denote  the  change,  the  personal  change,  which, 
in  point  of  character,  and  affection,  and  prin- 
ciple, takes  place  on  all  who  become  meet  for 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints.  It  is  there  called 
life  from  the  dead,  and  a  new  birth,  and  a  total 
renovation, — all  old  things  are  said  to  be  done 
away,  and  all  things  to  become  new.  With 
many  it  is  a  w^onder  how  a  change  of  such  to- 
tality and  of  such  magnitude,  should  be  ac- 
counted as  indispensable  to  the  good  and  cre- 
ditable man  of  society,  as  to  the  sunken  profli- 
gate. But  if  the  one  and  the  other  are  both 
dead  to  a  sense  of  their  Lawgiver  in  heaven, — 
then  both  need  to  be  made  alive  unto  him. 
With  both  there  must  be  the  power  and  the  re- 
ality of  a  spiritual  resurrection.  And  after  this 
great  transition  has  been  made,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  virtues  of  the  new  state,  and  those  of 
the  old  state,  cannot  be  brought  to  any  common 
standard  of  measurement  at  all.  The  one  dis- 
tances the  other  by  a  wide  and  impassable  in- 
terval    There  is  all  the  difference  in  point  of 


192  SERMON  Vlll. 

principle  between  a  man  of  the  world  and  a 
new  creature  in  Christ,  that  there  is  between 
him  who  has  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  him  who 
has  it  not, — and  all  the  difference  in  point  of 
performance,  that  there  is  between  him  who  is 
without  Christ,  and  can  therefore  do  nothings 
and  him  who  can  do  all  things  through  Christ 
strengthening  him.  There  is  a  new  principle 
now,  which  formerly  had  no  operation,  even 
that  of  godliness, — and  a  new  influence  now, 
even  that  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  given  to  the  pray- 
ers of  the  believer  ;--and  under  these  provisions 
will  he  attain  a  splendour  and  an  energy  of 
character,  with  which,  the  better  and  the  best 
of  this  world  can  no  more  be  brought  into  com- 
parison, than  earth  will  compare  with  heaven, 
or  the  passions  and  the  frivolities  of  time,  with 
the  pure  ambition  and  the  lofty  principles  of 
eternity. 

And  let  it  not  be  said,  that  the  transforma- 
tion of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  instead  of 
being  thus  entire  and  universal,  consists  only 
with  a  good  man  of  the  world  in  the  addition 
of  one  virtue,  to  his  previous  stock  of  many 
virtues.  We  admit  that  he  had  justice  before, 
and  humanity  before,  and  courteousness  before, 
and  that  the  godliness  which  he  had  not  before, 
is  only  one  virtue.  But  the  station  which  it 
asserts,  among  the  other  virtues,  is  a  station 
of  supreme  authority.  It  no  sooner  takes  its 
place  among  them,  than  it  animates  them  all, 
and  subordinates  them  all.      It   sends   forth 


SERMON  VHl.  193 

among  them  a  new  and  pervading  quality^ 
which  makes  them  essentially  different  from 
what  they  were  before.  I  may  take  daily  ex- 
ercise from  a  regard  to  my  health,  and  by  so 
doing  I  may  deserve  the  character  of  a  man  of 
prudence ;  or  I  may  take  daily  exercise  apart 
from  this  consideration  altogether,  and  because 
it  is  the  accidental  wish  of  my  parents  that  I 
should  do  so :  and  thus  may  1  deserve  the  cha- 
racter of  a  man  of  filial  piety.  The  external 
habit  is  the  same ;  but  under  the  one  principle, 
the  moral  character  of  this  habit  is  totally  and 
essentially  different  from  what  it  is  under  the 
other  principle.  Yet  the  difference  here^  is, 
most  assuredly,  not  greater  than  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  justice  of  a  good  man  of 
society,  and  the  justice  of  a  Christian  disci- 
ple. In  the  former  case,  it  is  done  unto  others, 
or  done  unto  himself  In  the  latter  case,  it  is 
done  unto  God.  The  frame-work  of  his  outer 
doings  is  animated  by  another  spirit  altogether. 
There  is  the  breath  of  another  life  in  it.  The 
inscription  of  Holiness  to  God  stands  engraven 
on  the  action  of  the  believer;  and  if  this  cha- 
racter of  holiness  be  utterly  effaced  from  the 
corresponding  action  of  the  good  man  of  soci- 
ety, then,  surely,  in  character,  in  wortli,  in  spi- 
ritual and  intelligent  estimation,  there  is  the 
utmost  possible  diversity  between  the  two  ac-- 
tions.  So  that,  should  the  most  upright  and 
amiable  man  upon  earth  embrace  the  Gospel 
faith,  and  become  the  subject  of  the  Gospel 

25 


194  SERMON  VIII. 

regeneration, — it  is  true  of  him,  too,  that  all 
did  things  are  done  away,  and  that  all  things 
have  become  new. 

Thus  it  is,  that  while  none  of  the  Christian 
virtues  can  be  made  to  come  into  measurement 
with  any  of  what  may  be  called  the  constitu- 
tional virtues,  in  respect  of  their  principle,  be- 
cause the  principle  of  the  one  set  differs  from 
that  of  the  other  set,  in  kind  as  well  as  in  de- 
gree, yet  there  are  certain  corresponding  vir- 
tues in  each  of  the  classes,  which  might  be 
brought  together  into  measurement,  in  respect 
of  visible  and  external  performance.  And  it 
is  a  high  point  of  obligation  with  every  disciple 
of  the  faith,  so  to  sustain  his  part  in  this  com- 
petition, as  to  show  forth  the  honour  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  to  prove  by  his  own  personal  history  in 
the  world,  how  much  the  morality  of  grace  out^ 
strips  the  morality  of  nature ;  to  evince  the  su- 
perior lustre  and  steadiness  of  the  one,  when 
compared  with  the  frail,  and  fluctuating,  and 
desultory  character  of  the  other;  and  to  make  it 
clear  to  the  eye  of  experience,  that  it  is  only 
under  the  peculiar  government  of  the  doctrine 
of  Christ,  that  all  which  is  amiable  in  human 
ivorth,  becomes  most  lovely,  and  all  which  i& 
justly  held  in  human  admiration,  becomes  most 
great,  and  lofty,  and  venerable.  The  Bible 
tells  us  to  provide  things  honest  in  the  sight  of 
men,  as  well  as  of  God.  It  tells  us,  that  upon 
the  person  of  every  Christian,  the  features  of 
excellence  should  stand  so  legibly  engraven. 


SERMON  VIII.  195 

that,  as  a  living  epistle,  he  might  be  seen  and 
read  of  all  men.     It  is  true,  there  is  much  in 
the  character  of  a  genuine  believer  which  the 
world  cannot  see,  and  cannot  sympathize  with. 
There  is  the  rapture  of  faith,  when  in  lively 
exercise.     There  is  the  ecstacy  of  devotion. 
There  is  a  calm  and  settled  serenity  amid  all 
the  vicissitudes  of  life.     There  is  the  habit  of 
having  no  confidence  in  the  flesh,  and  of  rejoic- 
ing in  the  Lord  Jesus.     There  is  a  holding  fast 
of  our  hope  in  the  promises  of  the  Gospel. 
There  is  a  cherishing  of  the  Spirit  of  adoption. 
There  is  the   work  of  a  believing  fellowship 
with  the  Father  and  with  the  Son.     There  is  a 
movement  of  affection  towards  the  things  w  hich 
are  above.     There  is  a  building  up  of  ourselves 
on  our  most  holy  faith.     There  is  a  praying  in 
the  Holy  Ghost.     There  is  a  watching  for  his 
influence  with  all  perseverance.     In  a  word, 
there  is  all  which  the  Christian  knows  to  be 
real,  and  which  the  world  hates,  and  denounces 
as  visionary,  in  the  secret,  but  sublime  and 
substantial  processes  of  experimental  religion. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,   there  is  also  much  in 
the  doings  of  an  altogether  Christian,  of  that 
palpable  virtue  which  forces  itself  upon  general 
observation ;  and  he  is  most  grievously  untrue 
to  his  Master's  cause,  if  he  do  not,  on  this 
ground,  so  outrun  the  world,  as  to  force  from 
the  men  of  it,  an  approving  testimony.     The 
eye  of  the  world  cannot  enter  within  the  spirit- 
oal  recesses  of  his  heart ;  but  let  him  ever  re- 


196  SERMON  VIIL 

member  that  it  is  fastened,  and  that  too,  with 
keen  and  scrutinizing  jealousy,  on  the  path  of 
his  visible  history.     It  will  offer  no  homage  to 
the  mere  sanctity  of  his  complexion;  nor,  un- 
less there  be  shed  over  it,  the  expression  of 
what  is  mild  in  domestic,  or  honourable  in  pub- 
lic virtue,  will  it  ever  look  upon  him  in  any 
other  light,  than  as  an  object  of  the  most  un- 
mingled  disgust.     And  therefore  it  is,  that  he 
must  enter  on  the  field  of  ostensible  accomplish- 
ment, and  there  bear  away  the  palm  of  superi- 
ority, and  be  the  most  eminent  of  his  fellows 
in  all  those  recognized  virtues,  that  can  bless 
or  embelhsh  the  condition  of  society ;  the  most 
untainted  in  honour,  and  the  most  disinterested 
injustice,  and  the  most  alert  in  beneficence,  and 
the  most  unwearied  in  all  these  graces,  under 
every  discouragement  and  every  provocation. 
We  have  now  only  time  to  say,  that  we  shall 
not  regret  the  length  of  this  discourse,  or  even 
the  recurrence  of  some  of  its  arguments,  if  any 
hearer  amongst   you,   not    in    the    faith,    be 
led  by  it,   to  withdraw  his    confidence  from 
the  mere  accomplishments  of  nature, — and  if 
any  behever  amongst  you  be  led  by  it,  not 
to  despise  these  accomplishments,  but  to  put 
them  on,  and  to  animate  them  all   with  the 
spirit  of  religiousness, — if  any  hearer  amongst 
you,  beginning  to  perceive  his  own  nothing- 
ness in  the  sight  of  God,  be  prompted  to  in- 
quire, Wherewithal  shall  I  appear  before  him.'^ 
and  not  rest  from  the  inquiry,  till  he  flee  from 


SERMON  Vin.  197 

his  hiding-place,  to  that  everlasting  righteous- 
ness which  the  Saviour  hath  brought  in ;  and 
if  any  believer  amongst  you,  rightly  dividing 
the  word  of  truth,  shall  act  on  the  principle, 
that  though  nothing  but  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
crucified,  can  avail  him  for  acceptance  with 
God,  yet  he  is  bound  to  adorn  this  doctrine  in 
all  things.  And  knowing  that  one  may  ac- 
quiesce in  the  whole  of  such  a  demonstration, 
without  carrying  it  personally  home,  we  leave 
off  with  the  single  remark,  that  every  convic- 
tion not  prosecuted,  every  movement  of  con- 
science not  followed  up,  every  ray  of  light  or 
of  truth  wDt  turned  to  individual  application, 
will  aggravate  the  reckoning  of  the  great  day, 
— and,  in  that  proportion  to  the  degree  of  ur- 
gency which  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
you,  and  been  resisted,  will  be  the  weight  and 
the  justness  of  your  final  condemnation. 


SERMON  IX. 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  LOVE  TO  GOD 


JUDE   21. 

'  Keep  3  ourselves  in  the  love  of  God.' ' 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  the  definition  of  a  term^ 
which  is  currently  and  immediately  understood 
without  one.  But,  should  not  this  ready  un- 
derstanding of  the  term  supersede  the  defini- 
tion of  it,  what  can  we  tell  of  love  in  the  way 
of  explanation,  but  by  a  substitution  of  terms^ 
not  more  simple  and  more  intelligible  than  it- 
self.^ Can  this  affection  of  the  soul  be  made 
clearer  to  you  by  words,  than  it  is  already  clear 
to  you  by  your  own  consciousness  ?  Are  we  to 
attempt  the  elucidation  of  a  term,  which,  with- 
out any  feeJ'as^  of  darkness  or  of  mystery,  you 
make  familiar  :ise  of  every  dny  ?  You  say  with 
the  utmost  promptitude,  and  you  have  just  as 
ready  an  apprehension  of  the  meaning  of  what 
you  say,  that  I  love  this  man,  and  bear  a  still 
higher  regard  to  another,  but  have  my  chief 
and  my  best  liking  directed  to  a  third.     We 


SERMON  rX.  199 

will  not  attempt  to  go  in  search  of  a  more  lu- 
minous or  expressive  term,  for  this  simple  affec- 
tion, than  the  one  that  is  commonly  employed. 
But  it  is  a  different  thing,  to  throw  light  upon 
the  workings  of  this  affection, — to  point  your 
attention  to  the  objects  on  which  it  rests,  and 
finds  a  complacent  gratification, — and  to  assign 
the  circumstances,  which  are  either  favourable 
or  unfavourable  to  its  excitement.  All  this 
may  call  forth  an  exercise  of  discrimination. 
But  instead  of  dwelling  any  more  on  the  signi- 
ficancy  of  the  term  love,  which  is  the  term  of 
my  text,  let  us  forthwith  take  it  unto  use,  and 
be  confident  that,  in  itself,  it  carries  no  ambi- 
guity along  with  it. 

The  term  love,  indeed,  admits  of  a  real 
and  intelligent  application  to  inanimate  objects. 
There  is  a  beauty  in  sights,  and  a  beauty  in 
sounds,  and  I  may  bear  a  positive  love  to  the 
mute  and  unconscious  individuals  in  which  this 
beauty  hath  taken  up  its  residence.  1  may  love 
a  flower,  or  a  murmuring  stream,  or  a  sunny 
bank,  or  a  humble  cottage  peeping  forth  from 
its  concealment, — or,  in  fine,  a  whole  landscape 
may  teem  with  such  varied  graces,  that  I  may 
say  of  it,  this  is  the  scene  I  most  love  to  be- 
hold, this  is  the  prospect  over  which  my  eye 
and  my  imagination  most  fondly  expatiate. 

The  term  love  admits  of  an  equally  real,  and 
equally  intelligent  application,  to  our  fellow- 
men.  They,  too,  are  the  frequent  and  familiar 
objects  of  this  affection,  and  they  often  are  so^ 


t 


200  SERMON  IX. 

because  they  possess  certain  accomplishments 
of  person  and  of  character,  by  which  it  is  ex- 
cited. I  love  the  man  whose  every  glance 
speaks  an  effusive  cordiality  towards  those 
who  are  around  him.  I  love  the  man  whose 
heart  and  whose  hand  are  ever  open  to  the  re- 
presentations of  distress.  I  love  the  man  who 
possesses  such  a  softness  of  nature,  that  the  im- 
ploring look  of  a  brother  in  want,  or  of  a  bro- 
ther in  pain,  disarms  him  of  all  his  selfishness, 
and  draws  him  out  to  some  large  and  willing 
surrender  of  generosity.  I  love  the  man  who 
carries  on  his  aspect,  not  merely  the  expres- 
sion of  worth,  but  of  worth  maintained  in  the 
exercise  of  all  its  graces,  under  every  variety 
of  temptation  and  discoaragement;  who,  in  the 
midst  of  calumny,  can  act  the  warm  and  en- 
lightened philanthropist ;  who,  when  beset 
with  many  provocations,  can  weather  them  all 
in  calm  and  settled  endurance;  who  can  be 
kind  even  to  the  unthankful  and  the  evil ;  and 
who,  if  he  possess  the  awful  virtues  of  truth 
and  of  justice,  only  heightens  our  attachment 
the  more,  that  he  possesses  goodness,  and  ten- 
derness, and  benignity  along  with  them. 

Now,  we  would  have  vou  to  advert  to  one 
capital  distinction,  betw  een  the  former  and  the 
latter  class  of  objects.  The  inanimate  reflect 
no  love  upon  us  back  again.  They  do  not  sin- 
gle out  any  one  of  their  admirers,  and,  by  an 
act  of  preference,  either  minister  to  his  selfish 
appetite  for  esteem,  or  minister  to  his  selfish 


SERMON  IX.  201 

appetite  for  enjoyment,  by  affording  to  him  a 
larger  share  than  to  others,  of  their  presence, 
and  of  all  the  delights  which  their  presence 
inspires.     They   remain   motionless   in   their 
places,  without  will  and  without  sensibility; 
and  the  homage  they  receivt?,  is  from  the  dis- 
interested affection,  which  men  bear  to  their 
loveliness.     They  are  loved,  and  that  purely, 
because  they  are  lovely.     There  is  no  mixture 
of  selfishness  in  the  affection  that  is  offered  to 
them.     They  do  not  put  on  a  sweeter  smile  to 
one  man  than  to  another ;  but  all  the  features 
of  that  beauty  in  which  they  are  arrayed,  stand 
inflexibly  the  same  to  every  beholder ;  and  he, 
without  any  conscious  mingling  whatever  of 
self-love,  in  the  emotion  with  which  he  gazes 
at  the  charms  of  some  external  scenery,  is  ac- 
tuated by  a  love  towards  it,  which  rests  and 
which  terminates  on. the  objects  that  he  is  em- 
ployed in  contemplating. 

But  this  is  not  always  the  case,  when  our 

fellow-men  are  the  objects  of  this  affection.     I 

should  love  cordiality,  and  benevolence,  and 

compassion  for  their  own  sakes ;  but  let  your 

own  experience  tell,  how  far  more  sweetly  and 

more  intensely  the  love  is  felt,  when  this  cor- 

diahty  is  turned,  in  one  stream  of  kindliness, 

towards  myself;   when  the  eye  of  friendship 

has  singled  out  me,  and  looks  at  me  with  a 

peculiar  graciousness ;  w  hen  the  man  of  ien-^ 

derness  has  pointed  his  way  to  the  abode  of 

my  suffering  family,  and  there  shed  in  secrecy 

26 


Wl  SERMON  IX 

over  them  his  liberalities,  and  his  tears ;  when 
he  has  forgiven  me  the  debt  that  I  was  unable 
to  discharge ;  and  when,  oppressed  as  I  am,  by 
the  consciousness  of  having  injured  or  reviled 
him,  he  has  nobly  forgotten  or  overlooked  the 
whole  provocation,  and  persists  in  a  regard 
that  knows  no  abatement,  and  in  a  well-doing 
that  is  never  weary. 

There  is  an  element,  then,  in  the  love  I  bear 
to  a  fellow-man,  which  does  not  exist  in  the 
love  I  bear  to  an  inanimate  object ;  and  which 
may  serve,  perhaps,  to  darken  the  character 
of  the  affection  that  I  feel  towards  the  former. 
We  most  readily  concede  it,  that  the  love  of 
another,  on  account  of  the  virtues  which  adorn 
him,  changes  its  moral  character  altogether,  if 
it  be  a  love  to  him,  solely  on  account  of  the 
benefit  which  I  derive  from  the  exercise  of 
these  virtues.  1  should  love  compassion  on 
its  own  account,  as  well  as  on  the  account  that 
it  is  I  who  have  been  the  object  of  it.  I  should 
love  justice  on  its  own  account,  as  well  as  on 
the  account  that  my  grievances  have  been  re- 
dressed by  the  dispensation  of  it.  On  looking 
at  goodness,  1  should  feel  an  affection  resting 
on  this  object,  and  finding  there  its  full  and  its 
terminating  gratification;  and  that,  though  I 
had  never  stood  in  the  way  of  any  one  of  its 
beneficent  operations. 

How  is  it,  then,  that  the  special  direction  of 
a  moral  virtue  in  another,  towards  the  object 
of  my  personal  benefit,  operates  in  enhancing 


SERMON  IX.  203 

both  the  sensation  which  it  imparts  to  my 
heart,  and  the  estimate  which  I  form  of  it  ? 
What  is  the  pecuUar  quality  communicated  to 
my  admiration  of  another's  friendship,  and  an- 
other's goodness,  by  the  circumstance  of  my- 
self, being  the  individual  towards  whom  that 
friendship  is  cherished,  and  in  favour  of  whom 
that  goodness  puts  itself  forth  into  active  exer- 
tion?    At  the  sight  of  a  benevolent  man,  there 
arises  in  my  bosom  an  instantaneous  homage 
of  regard  and  of  reverence ;— but  should  that 
homage  take  a  pointed  direction  towards  my- 
self;—-should  it  realize  its  fruits  on  the  comfort 
and  security  of  my  own  person,— should  it  be 
employed  in  gladdening  my  home,  and  spread- 
ing enjoyment  over  my  family,  oppressed  with 
want  and  pining  in  sickness,  there  is,  you  will 
allow,  by  these  circumstances,  a  heightening 
of  the  love  and  the  admiration  that  1  formerly 
rendered  to  him.    And,  we  should  like  to  know 
what  is  the  precise  character  of  the  addition 
that  has  thus  been  given  to  my  regard  for  the 
virtue  of  benevolence.  We  should  Uke  to  know, 
if  it  be  altogether  a  pure  and  a  praiseworthy  ac- 
cession that  has  thus  come  upon  the  sentiment, 
with  which  I  now  look  at  my  benefactor,— or, 
if,  by  contracting  any  taint  of  selfishness,  it 
has  lost  the  high  rank  that  formerly  belonged 
to  it,  as  a  disinterested  affection,  towards  the 
goodness  which  beautifies  and  adorns  his  cha- 
racter. 

There  is  one  way,  however,  in  which  this 


204  SERMON  IX, 

special  direction  of  a  moral  virtue  towards  my 
particular  interest,  may  increase  my  affection 
for  it,  and  without  changing  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  my  affection.  It  gives  me  a  nearer  view 
of  the  virtue  in  question.  It  is  true,  that  the 
virtue  may  just  be  as  lovely  when  exercised  in 
behalf  of  my  neighbour,  as  when  exercised  in 
behalf  of  myself.  But,  in  the  former  case,  I  am 
not  an  eye-witness  to  the  display  and  the  evo- 
lution of  its  loveliness.  1  am  a  limited  being, 
who  cannot  take  in  so  full  and  so  distinct  an 
impression  of  the  character  of  what  is  distant, 
as  of  the  character  of  what  is  immediately  be- 
side me.  It  is  true,  that  all  the  circumstances 
maybe  reported.  But  you  know  very  well,  that  a 
much  livelier  representation  is  obtained  of  any 
object,  by  the  seeing  of  it,  than  by  the  hearing 
of  it.  To  be  told  of  kindness,  does  not  bring 
this  attribute  of  character  so  forcibly,  or  so 
clearly  home  to  my  observation,  as  to  receive 
a  visit  from  kindness,  and  to  take  it  by  the  hand, 
and  to  see  its  benignant  mien,  and  to  hear  its 
gentle  and  complacent  voice,  and  to  witness 
the  solicitude  of  its  inquiries,  and  to  behold  its 
tender  and  honest  anxiety  for  my  interest,  and 
to  share  daily  and  weekly  in  the  liberalities 
which  it  has  bestowed  upon  me.  When  all  this 
goes  on  around  my  own  person,  and  within  the 
limits  of  my  own  dwelling-place,  it  is  very  true 
that  self  is  gratified,  and  that  this  circumstance 
may  give  rise  to  sensations,  which  are  altoge- 
ther distinct  from  the  love  I  bear  to  moral 


SERMON  IX.  20^ 

Worth,  or  to  moral  excellence.  But  this  does 
not  hinder,  that,  along  with  these  sensations,  a 
disinterested  love  for  the  moral  virtue  of  which 
I  have  been  the  object,  may,  at  the  same  time, 
have  its  room,  and  its  residence  within  my  bo~ 
som.  I  may  love  goodness  more  than  ever, 
on  its  own  own  account,  since  it  has  taken  its 
specific  way  to  my  habitation,  and  that,  just 
because  I  have  obtained  a  nearer  acquaint- 
ance with  it.  I  may  love  it  better,  because  I 
know  it  better.  My  affection  for  it  may  have 
become  more  intense,  and  more  devoted  than 
before,  because  its  beauty  is  now  more  fully  un- 
folded to  the  eye  of  my  observation  than  be- 
fore. And  thus,  when  we  admit  that  the  good- 
ness of  which  I  am  the  object,  originates  with- 
in me  certain  feelings  different  in  kind  from 
that  which  is  excited  by  goodness  in  gene- 
ral, yet  it  may  heighten  the  degree  of  this  lat- 
ter feeling  also.  It  may  kindle  or  augment  the 
love  I  bear  to  moral  virtue  in  itself;  or,  in  other 
words,  it  may  enhance  my  affection  for  worth, 
without  any  change  whatever  in  the  moral  cha- 
racter of  that  affection. 

Now,  before  we  proceed  to  consider  those 
peculiar  emotions  which  are  excited  within  me, 
by  being  the  individual,  in  whose  favour  certain 
virtues  are  exercised,  and  which  emotions  are, 
all  of  them,  different  in  kind  from  the  affection 
that  I  bear  for  these  virtues, — let  us  further  ob- 
serve, that  the  term  love,  when  applied  to  a 
sentient  being,  considered  as  the  object  of  it, 


206  SERlMON  IX. 

may  denote  an  affection,  different  in  the  princi- 
ple of  its  excitement,  from  any  that  we  have 
been  yet  considering.  My  love  to  another 
may  lie  in  the  liking  I  have  for  the  moral  quali- 
ties which  belong  to  him ;  and  this,  by  way  of 
distinctness,  may  be  called  the  love  of  moral 
esteem  or  approbation.  Or,  my  love  to  another, 
may  consist  in  the  desire  I  have  for  his  happi- 
ness ;  and  this  may  be  called  the  love  of  kind- 
ness. These  two  are  often  allied  to  each  other 
in  fact,  but  there  is  a  real  difference  in  their 
nature.  The  love  of  kindness  which  I  bear  to 
my  infant  child,  may  have  to  reference  to  its 
moral  qualities  whatever.  This  love  finds  its 
terminating  gratification,  in  obtaining  for  the 
object  of  it,  exemption  from  pain,  or  in  minis- 
tering to  its  enjoyments.  It  is  very  true,  that 
the  sight  of  what  is  odious  or  revolting  in  the 
character  of  another,  tends,  in  point  of  fact,  to 
dissipate  all  the  love  of  kindness  I  may  have 
ever  borne  to  him.  But  it  does  not  always 
do  so,  and  one  instance  of  this  proves  a  real 
distinction,  in  point  of  nature,  between  the  love 
of  kindness,  and  the  love  of  moral  estee^n.  And 
the  highest  and  most  affecting  instance  which  can 
be  given  of  this  distinction,  is  in  the  love  where- 
with God  hath  loved  the  world;  is  in  that  kind- 
ness towards  us,  through  Christ  Jesus,  which  he 
hath  made  known  to  men  in  the  Gospel;  is  in  that 
longing  regard  to  his  fallen  creatures,  whereby 
he  was  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but 
rather  that  all  should  live.    There  was  the  love 


SERMON  fX.  207 

of  kindness  standing  out,  in  marked  and  sepa- 
rate display,  from  the  love  of  moral  esteem ; 
for,  alas !  in  the  degraded  race  of  mankind, 
there  was  not  one  quality  which  could  call 
forth  such  an  affection,  in  the  breast  of  the 
Godhead.  It  was,  when  we  were  hateful  to 
him  in  character,  that,  in  person  and  in  inte- 
rest, we  were  the  objects  of  his  most  unbound- 
ed tenderness.  It  was,  when  we  were  enemies 
by  wicked  works,  that  God  looked  on  with  pi- 
ty, and  stretched  forth,  to  his  guilty  children, 
the  arms  of  offered  reconciliation.  It  was, 
when  we  had  wandered  far,  in  the  paths  of 
worthlessness  and  alienation,  that  he  devised 
a  message  of  love,  and  sent  his  Son  into  our 
world,  to  seek  and  to  save  us. 

And  this,  by  the  way,  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  kind  of  love  which  we  are  required  to  bear 
to  our  enemies.  We  are  required  to  lovje  them, 
in  the  same  way  in  which  God  loves  his  ene- 
mies. A  conscientious  man  will  feel  oppressed 
by  the  difficulty  of  such  a  precept,  if  he  try  to 
put  it  into  obedience,  by  loving  those  who  have 
offended,  with  the  same  feeling  of  complacen- 
cy with  which  he  loves  those  ^  who  have  be- 
friended him.  But  the  truth  is,  that  the  love 
of  moral  esteem  often  enters,  as  a  principal 
ingredient,  into  the  love  of  complacency ;  and 
we  are  not  required,  by  our  imitation  of  the 
Godhead,  to  entertain  any  such  affection,  for 
the  depraved  and  the  worthless.  It  is  enough, 
that  we  cherish  towards  them  i?i  our  hearts  the 


208  SERMON  IX. 

love  of  kindness ;  and  this  will  be  felt  a  far 
more  practicable  achievement,  than  to  force 
up  the  love  of  complacency  into  a  bosom,  re- 
volted by  the  aspect  of  treachery,  or  disho- 
nesty, or  unprincipled  selfishness.  There  is 
no  possible  motive  to  excite  the  latter  affec- 
tion. There  may  be  a  thousand  to  excite  the 
former :  and  we  have  only  to  look  to  the  un- 
happy man  in  all  his  prospects,  and  in  all  his 
relations;  we  have  only  to  pity  his  delusions, 
and  to  view  him  as  the  hapless  victim  of  a  sad 
and  ruinous  infatuation ;  we  have  only  to  carry 
our  eye  onwards  to  the  agonies  of  that  death, 
which  will  shortly  lay  hold  of  him,  and  to  com- 
pute the  horrors  of  that  eternity,  which  if  not 
recovered  from  the  error  of  his  way,  he  is  about 
to  enter ;  we  have  only,  in  a  word,  to  put  forth 
an  exercise  of  faith  in  certain  near  and  im- 
pending realities,  the  evidence  of  which  is  al- 
together resistless,  in  order  to  summon  up  such 
motives,  and  such  considerations,  as  may  cause 
the  compassion  of  our  nature  to  predominate 
over  the  resentment  of  our  nature ;  and  as  will 
assure  to  a  believer  the  victory  over  such  ur- 
gencies of  his  constitution,  as  to  the  unrenewed 
heart,  are  utterly  unconquerable. 
'  But,  to  resume  our  argument,  let  it  be  ob- 
served, that  the  kindness  of  God  is  one  of  the 
loveliest,  and  most  estimable  of  the  attributes, 
which  belong  to  him.  It  is  a  bright  feature  in 
that  assemblage  of  excellencies,  which  enter 
into  the  character  of  the  Godhead;  and,  as* 


SERMON  IX.  209 

such,  independently  altogether  of  this  kindness 
being  exercised  upon  me,  I  should  offer  to  it 
the  homage  of  my  moral  approbation.     But, 
should  I  be  the  special  and  the  signalized  object 
of  his  kindness,  there  is  another  sentiment  to- 
ward God,  beside  the  love  of  moral  esteem, 
that  ought  to  be  formed  within  me  by  that  cir- 
cumstance, and  which,  in  the  business  of  rea- 
soning, should  be  kept  apart  from  it.  There  is 
the  love  of  gratitude.  These  often  go  together, 
and  may  be  felt  simultaneously,  towards  the  one 
being  we  are  employed  in  contemplating.     But 
they  are  just  as  distinct,  each  from  the  other, 
as  is  the  love  of  moral  esteem  from  the  love  of 
kindness.     We  trust  that  we  have  already  con- 
vinced you,  that  God  feels  towards  us,  his  infe- 
riors, the  love  of  kindness,  when  he  cannot, 
from  the  nature  of  the  object,  feel  for  us  the 
slightest  degree  of  the  love  of  moral  esteem. 
In  the  same  manner,  may  we  feel,  we  are  not 
saying  towards  God,  but  towards  an  earthly 
benefactor,  the  love  of  gratitude,  when,  from 
the  nature  of  the  object  we  are  employed  in 
contemplating,  there  is  much  to  impair  within 
as  the  love  of  moral  esteem,  or  to  extinguish 
it  altogether.     Is  it  not  most  natural  to  say  of 
the  man,  who  has  been  personally  benevolent 
to  myself,  and  who  has,  at  the  same  time,  dis- 
.^raced  himself  by  his  vices,  that,  bad  as  he  is, 
he  has  been  at  all  times  remarkably  kind  to  me, 
and  felt  many  a  movement  of  friendship  to- 
vvards  my  person,  and  done  many  a  deed  of  im- 

27 


210  SERMON  IX. 

portant  service  to  my  family,  and  that  I,  at 
least,  owe  him  a  gratitude  for  all  this, — that  1, 
at  least,  should  be  longer  than  others,  of  dis- 
missing from  my  bosom  the  last  remainder  of 
cordiality  towards  him, — that,  if  infamy  and 
poverty  have  followed,  in  the  career  of  his 
wickedness,  and  he  have  become  an  outcast 
from  the  attentions  of  other  men,  it  is  not  for 
me  to  spurn  him  instantly  from  my  door, — or, 
in  the  face  of  my  particular  recollections,  to 
look  unpitying  and  unmoved,  at  the  wretched- 
ness into  which  he  has  fallen. 

It  is  the  more  necessary,  to  distinguish  the 
love  of  gratitude  from  the  love  of  moral  esteem, 
that  each  of  these  affections  may  be  excited 
simultaneously  within  me,  by  one  act  or  by  one 
exhibition  of  himself,  on  the  part  of  the  Deity. 
Let  me  be  made  to  understand,  that  God  has 
passed  by  my  transgression,  and  generously  ad- 
mitted me  into  the  privileges  and  the  rewards 
of  obedience, — I  see  in  this,  a  tenderness,  and 
a  mercy,  and  a  love,  for  his  creatures,  which,  if 
blended  at  the  same  time  with  all  that  is  high 
and  honourable  in  the  more  august  attributes  of 
his  nature,  have  the  effect  of  presenting  him  to 
my  mind,  and  of  drawing  out  my  heart  in  moral 
regard  to  him,  as  a  most  amiable  and  estima- 
ble object  of  contemplation.  But,  besides  this, 
there  is  a  peculiar  love  of  gratitude,  excited  by 
the  consideration  that  I  am  the  object  of  this 
benignity, — that  I  am  one  of  the  creatures  to 
whom  he  has  directed  this  peculiar  regard^ — 


SERMON  IX.  211 

that  he  has  singled  out  me,  and  conceived  a  gra- 
cious purpose  towards  me,  and  in  the  execution 
of  this  purpose  is  lavishing  upon  my  person,  the 
blessings  of  a  father's  care,  and  afather's  tender- 
ness. Both  the  love  of  moral  esteem,  and  the 
love  of  gratitude,  may  thus  be  in  contempora- 
neous operation  within  me;  and  it  will  be  seen 
to  accomplish  a  practical,  as  well  as  a  metaphy- 
sical purpose,  to  keep  the  one  apart  from  the 
other,  in  the  view  of  the  mind,  when  love  to- 
wards God  is  the  topic  of  speculation,  which 
engages  it. 

But,  further,  let  it  be  understood,  that  the 
love  of  gratitude  differs  from  the  love  of  moral 
esteem,  not  merely  in  the  cause  which  imme- 
diately originates  it,  but  also  in  the  object,  in 
which  it  finds  its  rest  and  its  gratification.     It 
is  the   kindness  of  another  being   to  myself, 
which  originates  wdthin  me  the  love  of  gratitude 
towards  him ;  and  it  is  the  view  of  what  is  mo- 
rally estimable  in  this  being,  that  originates 
within  me  all  the  love  of  moral  esteem,  that  I 
entertain  for  him.     There  is  a  real  distinction 
of  cause  between  these  two  affections,  and  there 
is  also  between  them  a  real  distinction  of  object. 
The  love  of  moral  esteem  finds  its  complacent 
gratification,  in  the  act  ol  dwelling  contempla- 
tively on  that  Being,  by  whom  it  is  excited;  just 
as  a  tasteful  enthusiast  inhales  deligfitfrom  the 
act  of  gazing,  on  the  chq^rms  of  some  external 
scenery.     The  pleasure  he  receiv^es,  emanntes 
directly  upon  bis  mind,  from  the  forms  of  beauty 


212  SERMON  IX. 

and  of  loveliness,  which  are  around  him.  And 
if,  instead  of  a  taste  for  the  beauties  of  nature, 
there  exists  within  him,  a  taste  for  the  beauties 
of  holiness,  then  will  he  love  the  Being,  who 
presents  to  the  eye  of  his  contemplation  the 
fullest  assemblage  of  them,  and  his  taste  will 
find  it&  complacent  gratification  in  dwelling  up 
on  him,  whether  as  an  object  of  thought,  or  a& 
an  object  of  perception.  "  One  thing  have  I  de- 
sired^" says  the  Psalmist,  "  that  I  may  dwell  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  my  life,  to 
behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  to  inquire 
ip  bis  temple."  Now,  the  love  of  gratitude  is 
distinct  from  this  in  it&  object.  It  is  excited 
by  the  love  of  kindness;  and  the  feeling  which 
is  thus  excited,  is  just  a  feeling  of  kindness  back 
again.  It  i&  kindness  begetting  kindness.  The 
language  of  this  affection  is,  "  What  sImB  I  ren- 
der unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  ?"  He 
has  done  what  is  pleasing  and  gratifying  to  me. 
What  shall  I  do  to  please,  and  to  gratify  him  ? 
The  love  of  gratitude  seeks  for  answers  to  thi^ 
question,  and  finds  its  delight  in  acting^  upon 
them,  and  whether  the  answer  be, — this  is  the 
will  of  God  even  your  sanctification, — or,  with 
the  sacrifices  of  liberality  God  is  well  pleased, — 
or,  obedience  to  parents  is  well  pleasing  in  his- 
sight, — these  all  point  out  so  many  lines  of  con- 
duct, to  which  the  impulse  of  the  love  of  gra* 
titude  would  carry  us,  and  attest  this  to  be 
the  love  of  God,— that  ye  keep  his  command- 
ments. 


SERMON  IX.  213 

And,  indeed,  when  the  same  Being  com- 
bines, in  his  own  person,  that  which  ought  to 
excite  the  love  of  moral  esteem,  with  that 
which  ought  to  excite  the  love  of  gratitude, — 
the  two  ingredients,  enter  with  a  mingled  but 
harmonious  concurrence,  into  the  exercise 
of  one  compound  affection.  It  is  true,  that 
the  more  appropriate  offering  of  the  former 
is  the  offering  of  praise, — just  as  when  one 
looks  to  the  beauties  of  nature,  he  breaks  out 
into  a  rapturous  acknowledgment  of  them  ;  and 
so  it  may  be,  when  one  looks  to  the  venerable, 
and  the  lovely  in  the  character  of  God.  The 
more  appropriate  offering  of  the  latter,  is  the  of- 
fering of  thanksgiving,  or  of  such  services  as  are 
fitted  to  please,  and  to  gratify  a  benefactor.  But 
still  it  may  be  observed,  how  each  of  these  sim- 
ple affections  tends  to  express  itself,  by  the  very 
act  which  more  characteristically  marks  the 
workings  of  the  other ;  or,  how  the  more  appro- 
priate offering  of  the  first  of  them,  may  be  prompt- 
ed under  the  impulse,  and  movement  of  the  se- 
cond of  them,  and  conversely.  For,  if  I  love 
God  because  of  his  perfections,  what  principle 
can  more  powerfully  or  more  directly  lead  to 
the  imitation  of  them  ? — which  is  the  very  ser- 
vice that  he  requires,  and  the  very  offering  that 
he  is  most  pleased  with.  And,  if  I  love  God 
because  of  his  goodness  to  me,  what  is  more 
fitted  to  prompt  my  every  exertion,  in  the  way 
of  spreading  the  honours  of  his  character  and 
of  his  name  amons;  mv  fellows, — and,  for  this 


w 


214  SERMON  IX. 

purpose,  to  magnify  in  their  hearing  the  glories 
and  the  attributes  of  his  nature  ?  It  is  thus  that 
the  voice  of  praise  and  the  voice  of  gratitude 
may  enter  into  one  song  of  adoration;  and 
that  whilst  the  Psalmist,  at  one  time,  gives 
thanks  to  God  at  the  remembrance  of  his  holi- 
ness, he,  at  another,  pours  forth  praise  at  the 
remembrance  of  his  mercies. 

To  have  the  love  of  gratitude  towards  God, 
it  is  essential  that  we  know  and  believe  his  love 
of  kindness  towards  us.  To  have  the  love  of 
moral  esteem  towards  him,  it  is  essential  that 
the  loveliness  of  his  character  be  in  the  eye  of 
the  mind ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  mind 
keep  itself  in  steady  and  believing  contempla- 
tion of  the  excellencies  which  belong  to  him. 
The  view  that  we  have  of  God,  is  just  as  much 
in  the  order  of  precedency  to  the  affection  that 
we  entertain  for  him,  as  any  two  successive 
steps  can  be,  in  any  of  the  processes  of  our 
mental  constitution.  To  obtain  the  introduc- 
tion of  love  into  the  heart,  there  must,  as  a 
preparatory  circumstance,  be  the  introduction 
of  knowledge  into  the  understanding ;  or,  as 
we  can  never  be  said  to  know  what  we  do  not 
believe — ere  we  have  love,  we  must  have  faith; 
and,  accordingly,  in  the  passage  from  which 
our  text  is  extracted,  do  we  perceive  the  one 
pointed  to,  as  the  instrument  for  the  produc- 
tion of  the  other.  "  Keep  yourselves  in  the 
love  of  God,  building  yourselves  up  on  your 
most  holy  faith." 


SERMON  IX.  2in 

And  here,  it  ought  to  be  remarked,  that  a 
man  may  experience  a  mental  process,  and  yet 
have  no  taste  or  no  understanding  for  the  ex- 
planation of  it.  The  simple  truths  of  the  Gos- 
pel, may  enter  with  acceptance  into  the  mind 
of  a  peasant,  and  there  work  all  the  proper  in- 
fluences on  his  heart  and  character,  which  the 
Bible  ascribes  to  them :  and  yet  he  may  be  ut- 
terly incapable  of  tracing  that  series  of  inward 
movements,by  which  he  is  carried  onwards  from 
a  belief  in  the  truth,  to  all  those  moral  and  affec- 
tionate regards,  which  mark  a  genuine  disciple 
of  the  truth.  He  may  be  the  actual  subject  of 
these  movements,  though  altogether  unable 
to  follow  or  to  analyze  them.  This  is  not 
peculiar  to  the  judgments,  or  the  feelings  of 
Christianity.  In  the  matters  of  ordinary  life,  a 
man  may  judge  sagaciously,  and  feel  correctly 
while  ardently; — and  experience,  in  right  and 
natural  order,  the  play  of  his  various  faculties, 
without  having  it  at  all  in  his  power,  either  to 
frame  or  to  follow  a  true  theory  of  his  facul- 
ties. It  is  well,  that  the  simple  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  has  its  right  practical  operation  on 
men,  who  make  no  attempt  whatever,  to  com- 
prehend the  metaphysics  of  the  operation. 
But,  if  ever  metaphysics  be  employed  to  dark- 
en the  freeness  of  the  Gospel  offer,  or  to  de- 
throne faith  from  the  supremacy  which  be- 
longs to  it,  or  to  forbid  the  approaches  of 
those  whom  God  has  not  forbidden ;  then  must 
it  be  met  upon  its  own  ground,  and  the  real 


216  SERMON  IX. 

character  of  our  beneficent  religion  be  assert- 
ed, amid  the  attempts  of  those  who  have  in 
any  way  obscured  or  injured  it  by  their  ilius- 
Orations, 


SERMON  X. 

ORATITUDE,  NOT  A  SORPID  AFFECTION, 


1  John  iv.  19. 
^'  We  love  him,  because  he  first  loved  us." 

Some  theologians  have  exacted  from  an  in- 
quirer, at  the  very  outset  of  his  conversion,  that 
he  should  carry  in  his  heart  what  they  call  the 
disinterested  love  of  God.  They  have  set  him 
on  the  most  painful  efforts  to  acquire  this  affec- 
tion,— and  that  too,  before  he  was  in  circum- 
stances in  which  it  was*  at  all  possible  to  enter- 
tain it.  They  have  led  him  to  view  with  sus- 
picion the  love  of  gratitude,  as  having  in  it  a 
taint  of  selfishness.  They  are  for  having  him 
to  love  God,  and  that  on  the  single  ground  that 
he  is  lovely,  without  any  reference  to  his  own 
comfort,  or  even  to  his  own  safety.  Strange 
demand  which  they  make  on  a  sentient  being, 
that  even  amidst  the  fears  and  the  images  of 
destruction,  he  should  find  room  in  his  heart  for 
the  love  of  complacency !  and  equally  strange 
demand  to  make  on  a  sinful  being,  that  ere  he 
admit  such  a  sense  of  reconciliation  into  his  bo- 
som, as  will  instantly  call  forth  a  grateful  regard 
to  him  who  has  conferred  it,  he  must  view  God 
with  a  disinterested  affection ;  that  from  the 
deep  and  helpless  abyss  of  his  depravity,  he 
jTftust  find,  unaided,  his  ascending  way  to  the 
28 


218  SERMON  X. 

purest  and  the  sublimest  emotion  of  moral  na- 
ture; that  ere  he  is  delivered  from  fear  he 
must  love,  even  though  it  be  said  of  love,  that 
it  casteth  out  fear;  and  that  ere  he  is  placed 
on  the  vantage  ground  of  the  peace  of  the  Gos- 
pel, he  must  reaHze  on  his  character,  one  of 
the  most  exalted  of  its  perfections. 

The  effect  of  all  this  on  many  an  anxious 
seeker  after  rest,  has  been  most  discouraging. 
With  the  stigma  that  has  been  affixed  to  the 
love  of  gratitude,  they  have  been  positively  ap- 
prehensive of  the  inroads  of  this  affection,  and 
have  studiously  averted  the  eye  of  their  con- 
templation from  the  objects  which  are  fitted  to 
inspire  it.  In  other  words,  they  have  hesitated 
to  entertain  the  free  offers  of  salvation,  and 
misinterpreted  all  the  tokens  of  an  embassy, 
which  has  proclaimed  peace  on  earth  and  good 
will  to  men.  They  think  that  all  which  they 
can  possibly  gather,  in  the  way  of  affection? 
from  such  a  contemplation,  is  the  love  of  gra- 
titude ;  and  that  gratitude  is  selfishness  ;  and 
that  selfishness  is  not  a  gracious  affection ;  and 
that  ere  they  be  surely  and  soundly  converted, 
the  love  tliey  bear  to  God  must  be  of  a  total- 
ly disinterested  character ;  and  thus  through 
another  medium  than  that  of  a  free  and  gratu- 
itous dispensation  of  kindness,  do  they  strive, 
by  a  misunderstood  gospel,  or  without  the 
gospel  altogether,  to  reach  a  peace  and  a  pre- 
paration  which  we  fear,  in  their  way  of  it,  ie 
to  sinners  utterly  unattainable. 


SERMON  X.  219 

In  the  progress  of  this  discourse  let  us  en- 
deavour, in  the  first  place,  to  rescue  the  love  of 
gratitude  from  the  imputations  which  have 
been  preferred  against  it, — and,  secondly,  to 
assign  to  the  love  of  kindness  manifested  to  the 
world  in  the  gospel,  and  to  the  faith  by  which 
that  love  is  made  to  arise  in  the  heart,  the  place 
that  the  pre-eminence  which  belong  to  them. 

I.  The  proper  object  of  the  love  of  grati- 
tude, is  the  being  who  has  exercised  towards 
me  the  love  of  kindness :  and  this  is  more  cor- 
rect than  to  say,  that  the  proper  object  of  this 
affection,  is  the  being  who  has  conferred  bene- 
fits upon  me.  I  can  conceive  another  to  load 
me  with  benefactions,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
evince  that  kindness  towards  me  was  not  the 
principle  which  impelled  him.  It  may  be  done 
reluctantly  at  the  bidding  of  another,  or  it  may 
be  done  to  serve  some  interested  purpose,  or 
it  may  be  done  to  parade  his  generosity  before 
the  eye  of  the  public.  If  it  be  not  done  from 
a  real  principle  of  kindness  to  myself,  I  may 
take  his  gifts,  and  I  may  find  enjoyment  in  the 
use  of  them;  but  I  feel  no  gratitude  towards 
the  dispenser  of  them.  Unless  I  see  his  kind- 
ness in  them,  I  will  not  be  grateful.  It  is  true 
that,  in  point  of  fact,  gratitude  often  springs 
from  the  rendering  of  a  benefit ;  but,  lest  we 
should  confound  things  which  are  different,  let 
it  be  well  observed,  that  this  is  only  when  the 
benefit  serves  as  the  indication  of  a  kind  pur- 
pose, or  of  a  kind  affection,  on  the  part  of  him 


220  SERMON  t. 

who  hath  granted  it.  And  this  may  be  proved^ 
not  merely  by  showing,  that  there  may  be  no 
gratitude  where  there  is  a  benefit,  but  also  by 
showings  that  there  may  be  gratitude  where 
there  is  no  material  benefit  whatever.  Just  let 
the  naked  principle  of  kindness  discover  itself^ 
and  though  it  have  neither  the  power,  nor  the 
opportunity  of  coming  forth  with  the  dispensa- 
tion of  any  service,  it  is  striking  to  observe, 
how  upon  the  bare  existence  of  this  affection 
being  known,  it  is  met  by  a  grateful  feeling,  on 
the  part  of  him  to  whom  it  is  directed;  and 
what  mighty  augmentations  may  be  given,  in 
this  way,  to  the  stock  of  enjoyment,  and  that^ 
hj  the  mere  reciprocation  of  kindness  beget- 
ting kindness*  For,  to  send  the  expression  of 
this  kindness  into  another's  bosom,  it  is  not  al- 
ways necessary  to  do  it  on  the  vehicle  of  a  po- 
sitive donation.  It  may  be  conveyed  by  a  look 
of  benevolence ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  by  the 
mere  feeling  of  cordiality,  a  tide  of  happiness 
may  be  made  to  circulate  throughout  all  the 
individuals  of  an  assembled  company.  Or  it 
may  be  done  by  a  very  slight  and  passieg  at- 
tention, and  thus  it  is,  that  the  cheap  services 
of  courteousness,  may  spread  such  a  charm 
over  the  face  of  a  neighbourhood.  Or  it  may 
be  done  by  the  very  poorest  member  of  human 
society ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  the  ready  and  sin- 
cere homage  of  attachment  from  such  a  man, 
may  beam  a  truer  felicity  upon  me,  and  call 
forth  a  livelier  gratitude  to  him  who  has  con- 


SERMON  X.  221 

ferred  it,  than  some  splendid  act  of  patronage 
on  the  part  of  a  superior.  Or  it  may  be  done 
by  a  Christian  visitor  in  some  of  the  humblest 
of  our  city  lanes,  who,  without  one  penny  to 
bestow  on  the  children  of  want,  may  spread 
among  them  the  simple  conviction  of  her  good 
will,  and  call  down  upon  her  person  the  voice 
of  thankfulness  and  of  blessing  from  all  their 
habitations.  And  thus  it  is,  that  by  good  will 
creating  good  will,  a  pure  and  gladdening  influ- 
ence will  at  length  go  abroad  over  the  face  of 
our  world,  and  mankind  will  be  made  to  know 
the  might  and  the  mystery  of  that  tie,  which 
is  to  bind  them  together  into  one  family,  and 
they  will  rejoice  in  the  power  of  that  secret 
charm  which  so  heightens  and  so  multiplies  the 
pleasure  of  all  the  members  of  it;  and,  when 
transported  from  earth  to  heaven,  they  will 
still  feel,  that  while  it  is  to  the  benefits  which 
God  hath  conferred  that  they  owe  the  posses- 
sion and  all  the  privileges  of  existence ;  it  is  to 
a  sense  of  the  love  which  prompted  these  be- 
nefits, that  they  will  owe  the  ecstatic  charm  of 
their  immortality.  It  is  the  beaming  kindness 
of  God  upon  them,  that  will  put  their  souls 
into  the  liveliest  transports  of  gratitude  and 
joy;  and  it  is  the  reciprocation  of  this  kind- 
ness on  the  part  of  those,  who,  while  they  have 
fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  with  the  Son, 
have  fellowship  also  with  one  another,  that 
will  cause  the  joy  of  heaven  to  be  full. 

The  distinction  which  we  are  now  adverting 


222  SERMON  X. 

to,  is  something  more  than  a  mere  shadowy  re- 
finement  of  speculation.  It  may  be  realized  on 
the  most  trodden  and  ordinary  path  of  human 
experience,  and  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  fa- 
mihar  exhibitions  of  genuine  and  unsophisticat- 
ed nature,  in  those  ranks  of  society  where  re- 
finement is  unknown.  Let  one  man  go  over 
any  given  district  of  the  city,  fully  fraught 
with  the  materiel  of  benevolence ;  let  him  be 
the  agent  of  some  munificent  subscription,  and 
with  nothing  in  his  heart  but  just  such  affec- 
tions, and  such  jealousies,  and  such  thoughtful 
anxieties,  about  a  right  and  equitable  division, 
as  belong  to  the  general  spirit  of  his  office ; 
let  him  leave  some  substantial  deposit  with 
each  of  the  families;  and  then  compute,  if  he 
can,  the  quantity  of  gratitude  which  he  carries 
away  with  him.  It  were  a  most  unkind  reflec- 
tion on  the  lower  orders,  and  not  more  unkind 
than  untrue,  to  deny  that  there  will  be  the 
mingling  of  some  gratitude,  along  with  the 
clamour,  and  the  envy,  and  the  discontent, 
which  are  ever  sure  to  follow  in  the  train  of 
such  a  ministration.  It  is  not  to  discredit  the 
poor,  that  we  introduce  our  present  observa- 
tion ;  but  to  bring  out,  if  possible,  into  broad 
and  luminous  exhibition,  one  of  the  finest  sen- 
sibilities which  adorns  them.  It  is  to  let  you 
know  the  high  cast  of  character  of  which  they 
are  capable ;  and  how  the  glow  of  pleasure 
which  arises  in  their  bosoms,  when  the  eye  of 
simple  affection  beams  upon  their  persons,  oi' 


SERMON  X.  223 

upon  their  habitations,  may  not  have  one  single 
taint  of  sordidness  to  debase  it.     And  to  prove 
this,  just  let  another  man  go  over  the  same  dis- 
trict, and  in  the  train  of  the  former  visitation ; 
conceive  him  unbacked  by  any  public  institu- 
tion, to  have  nothing  in  his  hand  that  might 
not  be  absorbed  by  the  needs  of  a  single  fami- 
ly, but,  that  utterly  destitute,  as  he  is,  of  the 
materieU  he  has  a  heart  charged  and  overflow- 
ing with  the  whole  morale  of  benevolence.    Just 
let  him  go  forth  among  the  people,  without  one 
other  recommendation  than  an  honest  and  un- 
dissembled  good  will  to  them;    and  let  this 
good  will  manifest  its  existence,  in  any  one  of 
the  thousand  ways,  by  which  it  may  be  autheur 
ticated ;   and  whether  it  be  by  the  cordiahty 
of  his  manners,  or  by  his  sympathy  with  their 
griefs,  or  by  the  nameless  attentions  and  offices 
of  civility,  or  by  the  higher  aim  of  that  kind- 
ness which  points  to  the  welfare  of  their  im- 
mortality, and  evinces  its  reality,  by  its  repay 
and  unwearied  services  among  the  young,  or 
the  sick,  or  the  dying;  just  let  them  be  satis- 
fied of  the   one  fact,  that  he  is  their  friend, 
and  that  all  their  joys  and  all  their  sorrows  are 
his  own;  he  may  be  struggling  with  hardships 
and  necessities,  as  the  poorest  of  them  all ;  but 
poor  as  they  are,  they  know  what  is  in^M^  heart, 
and  well  do  they  know  how  to  value  it ;  and 
from  the  voice  of  welcome,  which  meets  him 
in  the  very  humblest  of  tlieir  tenements ;  and 
from  the   smile  of  that  heartfelt  enjoyment. 


224  StRMON  X. 

which  his  presence  is  ever  sure  to  awaken,  an3 
from  the  influence  of  graciousness  which  he 
carries  along  with  him  into  every  house,  and 
by  which  he  hghts  up  an  honest  emotion  of 
thankfulness  in  the  bosom  of  every  family,  may 
we  gather  the  existence  of  a  power,  which 
worth  alone,  and  without  the  accompaniment 
of  wealth,  can   bestow ;  a  power  to  sweeten 
and  subdue,  and  tranquillize,  which  no  money 
can  purchase,  which  no  patronage  can  create 
It  will  be  readily  acknowledged  by  all,  that 
the  most  precious  object  in  the  management  of 
a  town,  is  to  establish  the  reign  of  happiness 
and  contentment  among  those  who  live  in  it. 
And  it  is  interesting  to  mark  the  operations  of 
those,  who,  without  adverting  to  the  principle 
that  I  now  insist  upon,  think,  that  all  is  to  be 
achieved,  by  the  beggarly  elements  which  en- 
ter into   the  arithmetic  of  ordinary  business; 
who  rear  their  goodly  scheme  upon  the  basis  of 
sums  and  computations ;  and  think  that  by  an 
overwhelming  discharge  of  the  materiel  of  be- 
nevolence, they  will  reach  an  accompHshment 
which  the  morale  of  benevolence  alone  is  equal 
to.     We  are  sure  that  it  is  not  to  mortify  our 
men  of  grave,  and  official,  and  calculating  ex- 
perience,  that  we  tell  them,  how,  with  all  their 
strengtljiand  all  their  sagacity,  they  have  only 
given  their  money  for  that  which  is  not  meat* 
and  their  labour   for  that  which  satisfieth  not. 
it  is  to  illustrate  a  principle  of  our  common 
nature,  so  obvious,  that  to  be  recognized,  it 


SERMOlN  X.  225 

needs  only  to  be  spoken  of.     And  it  were  well, 
if  in  so  doing  their  thoughts  could  be  led  to  the 
instrumentality  of  this  prineiple,as  the  only  way 
in  which  they  can  redeem  the  failures  of  thfcir 
by-gone  experience ;  if  they  could  be  convinc- 
ed, that  the  agents  of  a  zealous  and  affectionate 
Christianity  can  alone  do  what  all  the  inlluence 
of  municipal  weight  and  municipal   wisdom 
cannot  do ;  if  they  could  be  taught  what  the 
ministrations  are,  by  which  a  pure  and  a  re- 
sponding gratitude,  may  be  made  to  circulate 
throughout  all  our  dwelling-places;    if,  in  a 
word,  while  they  profess  to  serve  the  poor, 
they  could  be  led  to  respect  the  poor,  to  do 
homage  to  that  fineness  of  moral  temperament 
which  belongs  to  them,   and  which  hitherto 
seems  to  have  escaped,  altogether,  the  eye  of 
civil  or  political  superintendence;    and  they 
may  rest  assured,  that  let  them  give  as  much 
in  the  shape  of  munificence  as  they  will,  if  they 
add  not  the  love  to  the  liberahty  of  the  Gospel, 
they  will  never  soften  one  feature  of  unkindli- 
ness,  or  chase  away  one  exasperated  feehng, 
from  the  hearts  of  a  neglected  population. 

But,  beside  the  degree  of  purity  in  which 
this  principle  may  exist  among  the  most  desti- 
tute of  our  species,  it  is  also  of  importance  to 
remark  the  degree^  of  strength,  in  which  it  ac- 
tually exists  among  the  most  depraved  of  our 
species.  And,  on  this  subject,  do  we  think 
that  the  venerable  Howard  has  bequeathed  to 
us  a  most  striking  and  valuable  observation. 


226  SERMON  X. 

You  know  the  history  of  this  man's  enterprises  ^ 
how  his  doings,  and  his  observations,  were 
among  the  veriest  outcasts  of  humanity, — how 
he  descended  into  prison  houses,  and  there 
made  himself  famihar  with  all  that  could  most 
revolt  or  terrify,  in  the  exhibition  of  our  fallen 
nature;  how,  for  this  purpose,  he  made  the 
tour  of  Europe  ;  but  instead  of  walking  in  the 
footsteps  of  other  travellers,  he  toiled  his  painful 
and  persevering  way  through  these  receptacles 
of  worthlessness  ; — and,  sound  experimentalist 
as  he  was,  did  he  treasure  up  the  phenomena 
of  our  nature,  throughout  all  the  stages  of  mis- 
fortune, or  depravity.  We  may  well  conceive 
the  scenes  of  moral  desolation  that  would  often 
meet  his  eye ;  and  that,  as  he  looked  to  the 
hard,  and  dauntless,  and  defying  aspect  of  cri- 
minality before  him,  he  would  sicken  in  despair 
of  ever  finding  one  remnant  of  a  purer  and  het- 
ter  principle,  by  w^hich  -he  might  lay  hold  of 
these  unhappy  men,  and  convert  them  into  the 
willing  and  the  consenting  agents  of  their  own 
amelioration.  And  jei  such  a  principle  he 
found,  and  found  it,  as  he  tells  us,  after  ye^rs 
of  intercourse,  as  the  fruit  of  his  greater  experi- 
ence, and  his  longer  observation  ;  and  gives,  as 
the  result  of  it,  that  convicts,  and  that,  among 
the  most  desperate  of  them  all,  are  not  ungov- 
ernable, and  that  there  is  a  way  of  managing 
even  them,  and  that  the  way  is,  without  relax- 
ing, in  one  iota,  from  the  steadiness  of  a  calm 
and  resolute  discipline,  to  treat  them  with 
tenderness,  and  to  show  them  that  you  have 


SERMON  X.  227 

humanity ;   and  thus  a  principle,  of  itself  so 
beautiful,  that  to  expatiate  upon  it,  gives  in  the 
eyes  of  some,  an  air  of  fantastic  declamation  to 
our  argument,  is  actually  deponed  to,  by  an 
aged  and  most  sagacious  observer.     It  is  the 
very  principle  of  our  text ;  and  it  would  appear 
that  it  keeps  a  lingering  hold  of  our  nature, 
even  in  the  last  and  lowest  degree  of  human 
wickedness;    and  that,  when   abandoned  by 
every  other  principle,  this  may  still  be  detect- 
ed,—that  even  among  the  most  hackneyed  and 
most  hardened    of  malefactors   there  is  still 
about  them  a  softer  part  which  will  give  way  to 
the  demonstrations  of  tenderness  :  that  this  one 
ingredient  of  a  better  character  is  still  found  to 
su^rvive  the  dissipation  of  all  the  others,— that, 
fallen  as  a  brother  may  be,  from  the  moralities 
which  at  one  time  adorned  him,  the  manifested 
good-will  of  his  fellow  man  still  carries  a  charm 
and  an  influence  along  with  it ;  and  that,  there- 
fore,  there  lies  in  this,  an  operation  which,  as 
no  poverty  can  vitiate,  so  no  depravity  can 

extinguish*.  i  •  u    • 

Now,  this  is  the  very  principle  which  is 
brought  into  action,  in  the  deahngs  of  God 
with  a  whole  world  of  m  defactors.  It  looks, 
as  if  he  confided  the  whole  cause  of  our  recov^ 
ery,  to  the  influence  of  a  demonstration  of  good- 
will.  It  is  truly  interesting  to  mark,  what,  m 
the  devisings  of  his  unsearchable  wisdom,  is 

*  The  operation  of  the  same  r-^>P^,\^;!'  fj-itir^fin 
strikingly  exemplified  by  Mrs.  Fry.  and  her  coadjutor. ,  in 

the  prison  at  Newgate. 


/ 


228  SERMON  X. 

the  character  which  he  has  made  to  stand  most 
visibly  out,  in  the  great  scheme  and  history  oi 
our  redemption :  and  swrely  if  there  be  one  fea- 
ture of  prominency  more  visible  than  another, 
it  is  the  love  of  kindness.  There  appears  to 
be  no  other  possible  way,  by  which  a  respond- 
ing affection  can  be  deposited  in  the  heart  of 
man.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  law  of  love  can- 
not be  carried  to  its  ascendency  over  us 
by  storm.  Authority  cahnot  command  it. 
Strength  cannot  implant  it.  Terror  cannot 
charm  it  into  existence.  The  threatenings  of 
vengeance  may  stifle,  or  they  may  repel,  but 
they  never  can  woo  this  delicate  principle  of 
our  nature,  into  a  warm  and  confiding  attach- 
ment. The  human  heart  remains  shut,  in  all 
its  receptacles,  against  the  force  of  these  vari- 
ous applications ;  and  God,  who  knew  what  was 
in  man,  seems  to  have  known,  that  in  his  dark 
and  guilty  bosom,  there  was  but  one  solitary 
hold  that  he  had  over  him ;  and  that  to  reach  it, 
he  must  just  put  on  a  look  of  graciousness,  and 
tell  us  that  he  has  no  pleasure  in  our  death, 
and  manifest  towards  us  the  longings  of  a  be- 
reaved parent,  and  even  humble  himself  to  a 
suppliant  in  the  cause  of  our  return,  and  send 
a  Gospel  of  peace  into  the  world,  and  bid  his 
messengers  to  bear  throughout  all  its  habita- 
tions, the  tidings  of  his  good-will  to  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  This  is  the  topic  of  his  most 
anxious  and  repeated  demonstration.  This 
manifested  good-will  of  God  to  his  creatures,  is 
the  band  of  love,  and  the  cord  of  a  man,  by 


SERMON  X.  229 

ivhich  he  draws  them.     It  is  true,  that  from  the 
inaccessible  throne  of  his  glory,  we  see  no  di- 
rect emanation  of  his  tenderness  upon  us,  from 
the  face  of  the  King  who  is  invisible.     But,  as 
if  to  make  up  for  this,  he  sent  his  Son  into  the 
world,  and  declared  him  to  be  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  and  let  us  see,  in  his  tears,  and  in  his 
sympathies,  and  in  all  the  recorded  traits  of  his 
kindness,  and  gentleness,  and  love,  what  a  God 
we  have  to  deal  with.     It  is  true,  that  even  in 
love  to  us,  he  did  not  let  down  one  attribute  of 
truth  or  of  majesty  which  belonged  to  him. 
But,  in  love  to  us,  he  hath  laid  upon  his  own 
Son  the  burden  of  their  vindication ; — and  now, 
that  every  obstacle  is  done  away  ;  now,  that  the 
barrier  which  lay  across  the  path  of  acceptance, 
is  levelled  by  the  power  of  him  who  travailed 
in   the  greatness  of  his  strength  for  us ;  now, 
that  the  blood  of  atonement  has  been  shed,  and 
that  the  justice  of  God  has  been  magnified,  and 
that  our  iniquities  have  been  placed  on  the 
great  Sacrifice,  and  so  borne  away  that  there  is 
no  more  mention  of  them  ;   now,  that  with  his 
dio-nitv  entire,  and  his  holiness  untainted,  the 
door  of  heaven  may  be  opened,  and  smners  be 
called  upon  to  enter  in, — is  the  voice  of  a  friend- 
ly and  beseeching  God,  lifted  up  without  re- 
serve, in  the  hearing  of  us  all ; — his  love  of  kind- 
ness is  published  abroad  among  men  ; — and  tlii^^ 
one  mighty  principle  of  attraction  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  a  nature,  that  might  have  remained 
sullen  and  unmoved   under  every  other  appli- 
cation. 


230  SERMON  X, 

And,  as  God,  in  the  measure  of  restoring  a  de- 
generate world  unto  himself,  hath  set  in  opera- 
tion the  very  same  principle  as  that  which  we 
have  attempted  to  illustrate, — so  the  operation 
hath  produced  the  very  same  result  that  we  have 
ascribed  to  it.  As  soon  as  his  love  of  kindness 
is  believed,  so  sooii  does  the  love  of  gratitude 
spring  up  in  the  heart  of  the  behever.  As  soon 
as  man  gives  up  his  fear  and  his  suspicion  of 
God,  and  discerns  him  to  be  his  friend,  so  soon 
does  he  render  him  the  homage  of  a  willing  and 
affectionate  loyalty  There  is  not  a  man  who 
can  say,  I  have  known  and  beheved  the  love 
which  God  hath  to  us,  who  cannot  say  also,  f 
have  loved  God  because  he  first  loved  me. 
There  has  not,  we  will  venture  to  affirm,  been 
a  single  example  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
church,  of  a  man  Avho  had  a  real  faith  in  the 
overtures  of  peace  and  of  tenderness  which  are 
proposed  by  the  Gospel,  and  who  did  not,  at  thi6 
same  time,  exemplify  this  attribute  of  the  Chris- 
tain  faith,  that  it  worketh  by  love.  It  is  thus 
that  the  faith  which  recognizes  God,  as  God  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  lies 
at  the  turning  point  of  conversion.  In  this 
way,  and  in  this  way  alone,  is  there  an  inlet  of 
communication  open  to  the  heart  of  man,  for 
that  principle  of  love  to  God,  which  gives  all 
its  power  and  all  its  character  to  the  new  obe- 
dience of  the  gospel.  So  soon  as  a  man  really 
knows  the  truth,  and  no  man  can  be  said  to 
know  what  he  does  not  believe,  will  this  truth 
enthrone  a  new  affection  in  his  bosom,  which 


SERMON  X.  231 

will  set  him  free  from  the  dominion  of  all  such 
affections  as  are  earthly  and  rehellious.     The 
whole  style    and  spirit  of  his  obedience  are 
transformed.      The  man  now  walks  with  the 
vigour,  and  the  confidence,  and  the  enlarge- 
ment, of  one  who  is  set  at  liberty.     It  looks  a 
mysterious  revolution  in  the  general  eye  of  the 
world.     But  the  fact  is,  that  from  the  moment 
a  sinner  closes  with  the  overtures  of  the  gospel, 
from  that  moment  a  new  era  is  established  in 
the  history  of  his  mind  altogether.     As  soon  as 
he  sees  what  he  never  saw  before,  so  soon  does 
he  feel  what  he  never  felt  before.     Without 
the  faith  of  the  gospel  he  may  serve  God  in  the 
spirit  of  bondage ;  he  may  be  driven,  by  the 
terrors  of  his  law,  into  many  outward  and  re- 
luctant conformities;    he  may  even,   without 
the  influence  of  these  terrors,  maintain  a  thou- 
sand decencies  of  taste,  and  custom,  and  es- 
tablished observation.     But  he  is  still  an  utter 
stranger  to  the  first  and  the  greatest  command- 
ment.    There  may  be  the  homage  of  many  a 
visible  movement  with  the  body,  while,  in  the 
whole  bent  and  disposition  of  the  soul  there  is 
nothing  but  aversion,  and  distance,  and  enmity. 
Even  the  word  of  the  gospel  may  be  address- 
ed, Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  and  that  too,  to 
hearers  who  offer  no  positive  resistance  to  it, 
—but  coming  to  them  only  in  word,  they  re- 
main as  motionless  and  unimpressed  as  ever, 
and  with  an  utter  dormancy  in  their  hearts,  as 
to  any  responding  movement  of  gratitude.    1  he 
heart,  in  fact,  remains  unapproachable  in  eve- 


232  SERMOiN  X. 

ry  other  way,  but  by  the  gospel  coming  to  it, 
not  in  word  only,  but  in  power,  and  in  the  Ho- 
ly Ghost,  and  in  much  assurance.  Then  is  it, 
that  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our 
hearts;  and  that  the  gospel  approves  itself  to 
be  his  power,  and  his  wisdom,  to  the  sanctifi- 
cation  of  all  who  believe  in  it. 

Now,  the  theologians  to  whom  we  allude, 
have  set  up  obstacles  in  the  way  of  such  a  pro= 
cess.  They  hold  a  language  about  the  disin- 
terested love  of  God,  and  demand  this  at  the 
very  outset  of  a  man's  conversion,  in  such  a 
way,  as  may  retard  his  entrance  upon  a  life  of 
faith,— as  may  have  prolonged  the  darkness  of 
many  an  inquirer,  and  have  kept  him  in  a  state 
of  despair,  whom  a  right  understanding  of  the 
gospel  would  have  relieved  of  all  his  doubts, 
and  all  his  perplexities.  They  seem  to  look 
on  the  love  of  gratitude,  as  having  in  it  a  taint 
of  selfishness.  They  say  that  to  love  a  being, 
because  he  is  my  benefactor,  is  little  better 
than  to  love  the  benefit  which  he  has  confer- 
red upon  me ;  and  that  this,  instead  of  any  evi- 
dence of  a  state  of  grace,  is  the  mere  effect  of 
an  appetite  which  belongs  essentially  and  uni- 
versally to  the  animal  state  of  nature.  They 
appear  to  have  missed  the  distinction,  between 
the  love  that  is  felt  towards  the  benefit  itself, 
and  the  love  of  gratitude  that  is  felt  towards 
the  author  of  it ;  though  certainly  there  are 
Jiere  two  objects  of  affection  altogether  dis- 
tinct from,  each  other.  My  liking  for  the  gift 
is  a  different  phase  of  mind  from  my  liking  for 


SERiMON  X.  233 

the  giver.  In  the  one  exercise,  I  am  looking  to 
a  different  object,  and  my  thoughts  have  a  dif- 
ferent  employment,  from  what  they  have  in  the 
other.  Had  I  an  affection  for  the  gift,  without 
an  affection  for  the  giver,  then  migtit  I  evince 
an  unmixed  selfishness  of  character.  But  I 
may  have  both  ;  and  my  affection  for  the  giver 
may  be  purely  in  obedience  to  that  law  of  reci- 
procity, whereby  if  another  likes  me,  I  am  dispose 
ed  by  that  circumstance,  and  by  that  alone,  to 
like  him  back  again.  The  gift  may  serve  merely 
the  purpose  of  an  indication.  It  is  the  medium 
through  which  I  perceive  the  love  that  another 
bears  me.  But  it  is  possible  for  me  to  perceive 
this  through  another  medium,  and,  in  this  case, 
the  rising  gratitude  of  my  bosom  might  look  a 
purer  and  more  disinterested  emotion.  But 
the  truth  is,  that  it  retains  the  very  same  cha- 
racter, though  a  gift  has  been  the  occasion  of 
its  excitement, — and,  therefore,  it  ought  not  to 
have  been  so  assimilated  to  the  principle  of  sel- 
fishness. It  ought  not  to  have  been  so  discour- 
aged, and  made  the  object  of  suspicion,  at  that 
moment  of  its  evolution,  when  the  returning  sin- 
ner looks  by  faith  to  the  truths  and  the  pro- 
mises of  the  gospel,  and  sees  in  them  the  tender- 
ness of  an  inviting  God.  It  ought  not  to  have 
been  so  stigmatized,  as  a  mere  portion  of  his  un- 
renewed nature;  for,  in  truth,  it  will  heighten 
and  grow  upon  him,  with  every  step  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  moral  renovation.  Ji  will  be 
one  of  the  gracefuUest  of  his  accomplishment? 
30 


234  SfcRMON  X. 

in  this  world  ;  and  so  far  from  being  extinguish- 
ed in  the  next,  along  with  the  baser  and  more 
selfish  affections  of  our  constitution,  it  will  pour 
an  animating  spirit  into  many  a  song  of  ecstacy, 
to  him  who  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins 
hi  his  own  blood.  The  law  of  love  begetting 
love,  will  obtain  in  eternity.  Like  the  law  of  re- 
ciprocal attraction  in  the  material  world,  it  will 
cement  the  immutable  and  everlasting  order  of 
that  moral  system,  which  is  to  emerge  with  the 
new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness.  The  love  which  emanates 
from  the  throne  of  God,  upon  his  surrounding 
family,  will  call  back  a  voice  of  blessing,  and 
thanksgiving,  and  glory,  from  all  the  members  of 
it.  And  the  love  which  his  children  bear  to  each 
other,  will)  in  like  manner,  be  reflected  and 
multiplied.  All  that  is  wrong  in  selfishness 
will  be  there  unknown.  But  gratitude,  so  far 
from  being  counted  an  unseemly  companion 
forparadise  ;  will  be  one  chief  ingredient  in  the 
fulness  of  its  joy;  one  of  the  purest  and  most 
exquisite  of  those  pleasures,  which  are  for 
evermore. 

The  first  consideration  then,  upon  which  we 
would  elevate  gratitude  to  the  rank  of  a  virtue, 
is,  that  in  its  object,  it  is  altogether  distinct 
from  selfishness.  It  is  enough,  indeed,  to  dis- 
solve the  imagination  of  any  kindred  character 
between  selfishness  and  gratitude,  that  the  man 
without  selfishness,  seems  to  the  eye  of  a  be- 
holder, as  standing  on  a  lofty  eminence  of  vir- 
tue :  Th^  man  without  gratitude,  is  held,  by 


SERMON  X,  23^ 

all,  to  be  a  monster  of  deformity.  Give  me  a 
man  who  seizes  with  ravenous  appropriation 
all  that  I  have  to  bestow, — and  who  hoards  it, 
or  feeds  upon  it,  or,  in  any  way  rejoices  over  it, 
without  one  grateful  movement  of  his  heart  to- 
wards me, — and  you  lay  before  me  a  character, 
not  merely  unlike,  but  diametrically  opposite, 
to  the  character  of  him  who  obtains  the  very 
same  gift,  and  perhaps,  derives  from  the  use  of 
it,  an  equal,  or  a  greater  degree  of  enjoyment, 
to  the  sensitive  part  of  his  nature, — but  who, 
in  addition  to  all  this,  has  thought,  and  affec- 
tion, and  the  higher  principles  of  his  nature, 
excited  by  the  consideration  of  the  giver ;  and 
looks  to  the  manifested  love  that  appears  in 
this  act  of  generosity ;  and  is  touched  with  love 
back  again ;  and,  under  the  influence  of  this 
responding  affection,  conceives  the  kindest 
wishes,  and  pours  out  the  warmest  prayers,  for 
the  interest  of  his  benefactor,  and  shows  him 
all  the  symptoms  of  friendship,  and  suf rounds 
him  with  all  its  services. 

The  second  consideration,  upon  which  we 
would  elevate  gratitude  to  the  rank  of  a  pure 
virtue,  has  already  been  glanced  at.  Were  it  not 
a  virtue,  it  would  have  no  place  in  heaven. 
Did  it  only  appertain  to  the  unrenewed  part 
of  our  nature,  it  would  find  no  admittance 
among  the  saints  in  paradise.  But  one  of  the 
songs  of  the  redeemed,  is  a  song  of  gratitude. 

And,  thirdly,  by  looking  more  closely  to  this 
affection,  both  init^  origin  and  in  it«  exercise?. 


236  SERMON  X. 

we  shall  perceive  in  it,  more  ctearly,  all  the 
characteristics  of  virtue. 

Let  it  be  remarked  then,  that  an  affection 
may  simply  exist,  and  yet  be  no  evidence  of 
any  virtue,  or  of  any  moral  worth  in  the  holder 
of  it.     I  may  look  on  a  beautiful  prospect,  and 
be  drawn  out  to  an  involuntary  sentiment  of  ad- 
miration.    Or,  I  may  look  on  my  infant  child, 
and,  without  one  effort  of  volition,  feel  a  paren- 
tal tenderness  towards  it.     Or,  I  may  be  pre- 
sent at  a  scene  of  distress,  and  without  choosing 
or  willing  it  to  be  so,  I  may  be  moved  to  the 
softest  compassion.  And,  in  this  way,  I  may 
have  a  character  made  up  of  many  affections, 
some  of  which  are  tasteful,  some  of  which  are- 
most  amiable  in  themselves,  and  some  of  which 
are  most  useful  to  society;  and  yet,  none  of  which 
may  possess  the  smallest  portion  of  the  essential 
character  of  virtue.     They  may  be  brought  in- 
to exercise,  without  any  working  of  a  sense  of 
duty  whatever.    One  of  those  we  have  specifi- 
ed— the  instinctive   affection   of  parents    for 
their  young,  is  exemplified  in  all  its  strength, 
and  in  all  its  tenderness,  by  the  inferior  ani- 
mals.    And,  therefore,   if  we  want   to  know 
what  that  is  which  constitutes  the  character 
of  virtue,  or  moral  worth,  in  a  human  being, 
we  must  look  to  something  else,  than  to  the 
mere  existence  of  certain  affections,  however 
valuable  they  may  prove  to  others,  or  what- 
ever gracefulness  they  may  shed  over  the  com- 
plexion of  him  who  possesses  them. 

Now,  it  would  be  raising  a  collateral  into  a 


SERMON  X.  237 

jonain  topic,  were  we  to  enter  upon  a  full  ex- 
planation of  the  matter  that  has  now  been  sug- 
gested. And  we  shall,  therefore,  briefly  re- 
mark, that  to  give  the  character  of  virtue  to  any 
grace  of  the  inner  man,  the  will,  acting  under 
a  sense  of  duty,  must,  in  some  way  or  other, 
have  been  concerned,  in  the  establishment,  or 
in  the  continuance  of  it ;'  and  that  to  give  the 
same  character  of  virtue  to  a  deed  of  the  outer 
man,  the  will  must  also  be  concerned.  A  deed 
is  onfy  virtuous  in  as  far  as  it  is  voluntary;  and 
it  is  only  in  proportion  to  the  share  which  the 
will  has  in  the  performance  of  it,  and  the  will 
impelling  us  to  do,  what  we  are  persuaded 
ought  to  be  done,  that  there  can  be  awarded, 
to  the  deed  in  question,  any  character  of  moral 
estimation. 

This  will  explain  what  the  circumstances  are, 
under  which  the  gratitude  of  a  human  being 
may  at  one  time  be  an  instinct,  and  at  another 
time  a  virtue.  I  may  enter  the  house  of  an  in- 
dividual who  is  an  utter  stranger  to  the  habit 
of  acting  under  a  sense  of  duty ;  who  is  just  as 
much  the  creature  of  mere  impulse,  as  th^  ani- 
mals beneath  him  ;  and  who,  therefore,  though 
some  of  these  impulses  are  more  characteristic 
of  his  condition  as  a  man,  and  most  subservient 
to  the  good  of  his  fellows,  may  be  considered 
as  possessing  no  virtue  whatever,  in  the  strict 
and  proper  sense  of  the  term.  But  he  has  the 
property  of  being  affected  by  external  causes. 
And  I,  by  some  ministration  of  friendship,  may 
flash  upon  his  mind  such  an  overpowering  con^ 


2.38  SERMON  X, 

viction  oHhe  good-will  that  I  bear  him,  as  to 
affect  him  with  a  sense  of  gratitude  even  unto 
tears.  The  moral  obhgation  of  gratitude  may 
not  be  present  to  his  mind  at  all.  But  the  emo- 
tion of  gratitude  comes  into  his  heart  unbid- 
den, and  finds  its  vent  in  acknowledgments, 
and  blessings,  on  the  person  of  his  benefactor. 
We  would  say,  of  such  a  person,  that  he  pos- 
sesses a  happier  original  constitution  than  ano- 
ther, who,  in  the  same  circumstances,  would  not 
be  so  powerfully  or  so  tenderly  affected.  Ancl 
yet  he  may  have  hitherto  evinced  nothing 
more  than  the  workings  o-f  a  mere  instinct,  which 
springs  spontaneously  within  him,  and  gives  its 
own  impulse  to  his  words  and  his  performan- 
ces, without  a  sense  of  duty  having  any  share 
in  the  matter,  or  without  the  will  prompting 
/  the  individual  by  any  such  consideration,  as. 
let  me  do  this  thing  because  1  ought  to  do  it. 

Let  us  now  conceive  the  moral  sense  to  be 
admitted  to  its  share  of  influence  over  this  prp- 
ceeding.  Let  it  be  consulted  on  the  questio  n 
of  what  ought  to  be  felt,  and  what  ought  to  be 
done,  by  one  being,  when  another  evinces  the 
love  of  kindness  towards  him.  A  mere  in-< 
stinct  may,  in  point  of  fact,  draw  out  a  return 
of  love  and  of  service  back  again.  But  it  is 
the  province  of  the  moral  sense  to  pronounce 
on  the  point  of  obligation,  and  we  speak  its 
universal  suggestion,  when  we  say,  that  the 
love  of  gratitude  ought  to  be  felt,  and  the  ser- 
vices of  gratitude  ought  to  be  rendered. 
Now,  to  make  this  decision  of  the  moral 


SERMON  X.  239 

sense  practically  effectual,  and,  indeed,  to  make 
the  moral  sense  have  any  thing  to  do  with  this 
question  at  all,  the  feeling  of  gratitude  must,  in 
f?ome  way  or  other,  be  dependent  either  for  its 
existence,  or  its  growth,  or  its  continuance,  up- 
on the  will ;  and  the  same  will  must  also  have  a 
command  over  the  services  of  gratitude.  The 
moral  sense,  in  fact,  never  interposes  with  any 
dictate,  or  with  any  declaration  about  the 
feelings,  or  the  conduct  of  man,  unless  in  so  far 
as  the  will  of  man  has  an  influence,  and  a  pow- 
er of  regulation  over  them.  It  never  makes  the 
rate  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  a  question 
of  duty,  because  this  is  altogether  an  involun- 
tary movement.  And  it  never  would  have  of- 
fered any  authoritative  intimation,  about  the 
way  in  which  gratitude  ought  to  be  felt,  or 
ought  to  be  expressed,  unless  the  will  had  had 
some  kind  of  presiding  sovereignty  over  both 
the  degree  an4  the  workings  of  this  affection. 

The  first  way,  then,  in  which  the  will  may 
have  to  do  with  the  love  of  gratitude,  is  by  the 
putting  forth  of  a  desire  for  the  possession  of  it. 
It  may  long  to  realize  this  moral  accomplish- 
ment. It  may  hunger  and  thirst  after  this 
branch  of  righteousness.  Even  though  it  has 
not  any  such  power  under  its  command,  as 
would  enable  it  to  fulfil  such  a  volition,  the  vo- 
lition itself  has,  upon  it,  the  stamp  and  the  cha- 
racter of  virtue.  The  man  who  habitually  wills 
to  have  in  his  heart  a  love  of  gratitude  towards 
God,  is  a  man  at  least  of  holy  desires,  if  not  of 
holy  attainments.    And,  when  we  consider  that 


240  SERMON  X. 

a  way  has  actually  been  established,  in  which 
the  desire  may  be  followed  up  by  the  attain- 
ment,— when  we  read  of  the  promise  given  to 
those  who  seek  after  God, — when  we  learn  the 
assurance  that  he  will  grant  the  heart's  desire 
of  those  who  will  stir  themselves  up  to  lay  hold 
of  him, — when  we  think  that  prayer  is  the  na« 
tural  expression  of  desire  for  an  object  which 
man  cannot  reach,  but  w  hich  God  is  both  able 
and  willing  to  confer  upon  him,— then  do  we 
see  how  the  very  existence  of  the  love  of  gra- 
titude may  have   had  its  pure  and  holy  com- 
mencement, in  such  a  habitude  of  the  will  as  has 
the  essential  character  of  virtue  engraven  upon 
it.     "-Keep  yourselves,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  in 
the  love  of  God,  by  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost.'- 
But,  again,  there  are  certain  doings  of  the 
mind,  over  which  the  will  has  a  control,  and' by 
which  the  affection  of  gratitude  may  either  be 
brought  into  being,  or  be  sustained  in  lively  and 
persevering  exercise.     At  the  bidding  of  the 
will,  I  can  think  of  one  topic,  rather  than  of  an- 
other.  I  can  transfer  my  mind  to  any  given  ob- 
ject of  contemplation.     I  can  keep  that  object 
steadily  in  view,  and  make  an  effort  to  do  so, 
when  placed  in  such  circumstances  as  might 
lead  me  to  distraction  or  forgetfulness.     And 
it  is  in  this  way  that  moral  praise,  or  moral 
responsibility,  may  be  attached  to  the  love  of 
gratitude.    Ere  the  heart  can  be  moved  by  this 
affection  to  another,  there  must  be  in  the  mind 
a  certain  appropriate  object,  that  is  fitted  to  call 
it,  and  to  keep  it,  in  existence,— and  that  object 


SERMON  X.  241 

is  the  love  of  kindness  which  the  other  bears 
me.     I  may  endeavour,  and  I  may  succeed  in 
the  endeavour,  to  hold  this  love  of  kindness  in 
daily  and  perpetual  remembrance.     If  the  will 
have  to  do  with  the  exercises  of  thought  andme- 
mory,  then  the  will  may  be  responsible  for  the 
gratitude  that  would  spring  in  my  bosom,  did  I 
only  think  of  the  love  of  God,  and  that  would 
continue  with  me  in  the  shape  of  an  habitual 
affection,  did  I  only  keep  that  love  in  habitual 
remembrance.     It  is  thus  that  the  forgetfulness 
of  God  is  chargeable  with  criminality, — and  it 
will  appear  a  righteous  thing  in  the  day  of 
judgment,  when  they,  who  are  thus  forgetful 
of  him,  shall  be  turned  into  hell.      It  is  this 
which  arms,  with  such  a  moral  and  condem- 
natory force,  the  expostulation  he  holds  with 
Israel,,  "that  Israel  doth  not  know,  that  my 
people  do  not  consider."     It  is  because  we  like 
not  to  retain  God  in  our  knowledge,  that  our 
minds  become  reprobate: — and,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  by  a  continuous  effort  of  my  will, 
towards  the  thought  of  him,  that  I  forget  not 
his  benefits.     It  is  by  the  strenuousness  of  a 
voluntary  act,  that  I  connect  the  idea  of  an  un- 
s^een  benefactor,  with  all  the  blessings  of  my 
present  lot,    and  all  the  anticipations  of  my 
futurity.     It  is  by  a  combat  with  the  most  ur- 
gent propensities  of  nature,  that  I  am  ever 
looking  beyond  this  surrounding  materialism, 
and  setting  God  and  his  love  before  me  all  the 
day  long.     There  is  no  virtue,  it  is  allowed, 
31 


242  SERMON  X^ 

without  voliiotary  exertion;  but  thh  is  the  verj 
character  which  runs  throughout  the  whole 
work  and  exercise  of  faith.     To  keep  himself 
in  the  love  of  God  is  a  habit,  with  the  mainte- 
nance of  which  the  will  of  man  has  most  essen- 
tially to  do, because  it  i&at  his  will  that  he  keeps 
himself  in  the  thought  of  God's  love  towards 
him.     To  bid  away  from  me  such  intrusions  of 
sense,  and  of  time,  as  would  shut  God  out  of 
my  recollections ;  to  keep  alive  the  impression 
of  him  in  the  midst  of  bustle,  and  company,  and 
worldly  avocations;  to  recall  the  thought  of 
him  and  of  his  kindness,  under  crosses,  and 
vexations,  and  annoyances;    to  be  still,  and 
know  that  he  is  God,  even  when  beset  with 
temptations  to  impatience  and  discontent;  ne- 
ver to  lose  sight  of  him,  as  merciful  and  gra- 
cious; and  above  all,  never  to  let  go  my  hold  of 
that  great  Propitiation,  by  which,  in  every  time 
of  trouble,  I  have  the  privilege  of  access  with 
confidence  to  my  reconciled  Father;  these  are 
all  so  many  acts  of  faith,  bat  they  ate  just  such 
acts  as  the  will  bears  a  share,  and  a  sovereignty, 
in  the  performance  of.     And,  as  they  are  the 
very  acts  which  go  to  aliment  and  to  sustain  the 
Jove  of  gratitude  within  me,  it  may  be  seen,  how  ' 
an  affection  which,  in  the  first  instance,  may 
spring  involuntarily,  and  be  therefore  regarded 
as  a  mere  instinct  of  nature,  or  as  bearing  up- 
on-it  a  complexion  of  selfishness,  may,  in  ano- 
ther view,  have  upon  it  a  complexion  of  deep- 
est sacredness,  and  be  rendered  unto  God  in 
the  shape  of  a  duteous  and  devoted  offering 


SERMON  X.  243 

if  oai  a  voluntary  agent,  and  be,  in  fact,  the  la- 
borious  result  of  a  most  difficult,  and  persever- 
ing, and  pains-taking  habit  of  obedience. 

And  if  this  be  true  of  the  mere  sense  of  gra- 
titude, it  is  still  more  obviously  true  of  the  ser- 
vices of  gratitude.    "What  shall  I  render  unto 
the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits?"  is  the  genuine 
language  of  this  affection.     It  seeks  to  make  a 
gratifying  return  of  service,  and  that,  under 
the  feeling  that  it  ought  to  do  so.     Or,  in  other 
words,  do  we  behold  that  it  is  the  w  ill  of  man, 
prompted  by  a  sense  of  duty,  Avhich  leads  him 
on  to  the  obedience  of  gratitude,  and  that  the 
whole  of  this  obedience  is  pervaded  by  the  es- 
sential character  of  virtue.    This  is  tlie  love  of 
God,  that  ye  keep  his  commandments.     This 
is  the  most  gratifying  return  unto  him,  that  ye 
do  those  thin'gs  which  are  pleasing  in  his  sight. 
And  thus  it  is,  that  the  love  of  gratitude  may 
be  vindicated  in  its  character  of  moral  worth, 
from  its  first  commencement  in  the  heart  to  its 
ultimate  effect  on  the  walk  and  conversation. 
It  is  originally  distinct  from  selfishness  in  its  ob* 
ject;  and  it  derives  a  virtuousness  at  its  very 
outset,  from  the  aspirations  of  a  soul  b'ent  on 
the  acquirement  of  it,  because  bent  on  being 
what  it  ought  to  be  ;  and  it  is  sustained,  both 
in  life  and  in  exercise,  by  such  habits  of  thought  . 
as  are  of  voluntary  cultivation;  and  it  nobly 
sustains  an  aspect  of  moral  righteousness  on- 
wards to  the  final  result  of  its  operation  on  the 
character,  by  setting  him  who  is  under  its  pow- 
er, on  a  career  of  obedience  to  God,  and  m- 


iU  SERMON  X. 

troducing  him  to  an  arduous  coiitest  of  princi^ 
pie,  with  all  the  influences  of  sense  and  of  the 
world. 

If,*  to  render  an  affection  virtuous,  the  will 
acting  under  a  sense  of  duty,  should  be  con- 
cerned either  in  producing  or  in  perpetuating 
it;  then  the  love  of  moral  esteem  coming  into 
the  heart  as  an  involuntrry  sensation,  may,  in 
certain  circumstances,  have  as  little  of  the  cha- 
racter of  virtue  as  the  love  of  gratitude.  In 
this  respect,  both  these  affections  are  upon  a 
footing  with  each  other ;  and  the  first  ought  not 
to  have  been  exalted  at  the  expense  of  the  se- 
cond. That  either  be  upheld  within  us  in  our 
present  state,  there  must,  in  fact,  be  the  put- 
ting forth  of  the  same  voluntary  control  over 
the  thoughts  and  contemplations  of  the  under- 
standing ;  the  same  actue  exercise  of  faith ; 
the  same  laborious  resistance  to  all  those  ur- 
gencies of  sense  which  would  expel  from  the 
mind  the  idea  of  an  unseen  and  spiritual  ob- 
ject; the  same  remembrance  of  God  sustained 
by  effort,  and  prayer,  and  meditation. 

II. .  We  now  feel  ourselves  in  a  condition  to 
speak  of  the  Gospel,  in  its  free  and  gratuitous 
character ;  to  propose  its  blessings  as  a  gift ,' 
to  hold  out  the  pardon,  and  the  strength,  and 
all  the  other  privileges  which  it  proclaims  to 
believers,  as  so  many  articles  for  their  imme- 
diate acceptance ;  to  make  it  known  to  men 
that  they  are  not  to  delay  their  compliance 
with  the  overtures  of  mercy,  till  the  disinterest- 
ed love  of  God  arises  in  their  hearts ;  but  that 


SERMON  X.  2i5 

they  have  a  warrant  for  entering  even  now,  in- 
to instant  reconciliation  with  God.  Nor  are 
we  to  dread  the  approach  of  any  moral  contami* 
nation,  though  when,  after  their  eyes  are  open- 
ed to  the  marvellous  spectacle  of  a  pleading, 
and  offering,  and  beseeching  God,  holding  out 
eternal  life  unto  the  guilty,  through  Ihe  propi- 
tiation which  his  own  Son  hath  made  for  them, 
they  should,  from  that  moment,  open  their 
whole  soul,  to  the  influences,  of  gratitude,  and 
love  the  God  who  thus  hath  first  loved  them. 

We  conclude  then  with  remarking,  that  the 
whole  of  this  argument  gives  us  another  view 
of  the  importance  of  faith.  We  do  not  say  all 
for  it  that  we  ought,  when  we  say,  that  by  faith 
we  are  justified  in  the  sight  of  God.  By  faith 
also  our  hearts  are  purified.  It  is  in  fact  the  pri- 
mary and  the  presiding  principle  of  regenera- 
tion. It  brings  the  heart  into  contact  with 
that  influence,  by  which  the  love  of  gratitude 
is  awakened.  The  love  of  God  to  us,  if  it  is 
not  believed,  will  exert  no  more  power  over 
our  affections,  than  if  it  were  a  nonentity. 
They  are  the  preachers  of  faith,  then,  who 
alone  deal  out  to  their  hearers,  the  elementary 
and  pervading  spirit  of  the  Christian  morality. 
And  the  men  who  have  been  stigmatized  as  the 
enemies  of  good  works,  are  the  very  men,  who 
are  most  sedulously  employed  in  depositing 
within  you,  that  good  seed  which  has  its  fruit 
imto  holiness.  We  are  far  from  asserting,  that 
the  agency  of  grace  is  not  concerned,  in  every 
step  of  that  process,  by  which  a  sinner  is  con- 


246  SERMON  X. 

ducted  from  the  outset  of  his  conversion,  to  the 
state  of  being  perfect,   and  complete  in  the 
whole  will  of  God.     But  there  is  a  harmony 
between  the  processes  of  grace  and  of  nature; 
and  in  the  same  manner,  as  in  human  society, 
the  actual  conviction  of  a  neighbour's  good- will 
to  me,  takes  the  precedency  in  point  of  order 
of  any  returning  movement  of  gratitude  on  my 
part,  so,  in  the  great  concerns  of  our  fellow- 
ship with  God,  my  belief  that  he  loves  me,  is 
an  event  prior  and  preparatory  to  the  event  of 
my  loving  him.     So  that  the  primary  obstacle 
to  the  love  of  God  is  not  the  want  of  human 
gratitude,  but  the  want' of  human  faith.     The 
reason  why  man  is  not  excited  to  the  love   of 
God  by  the  revelation  of  God's  love  to  him,  is 
just  because  he  does  not  believe  that  revela- 
tion.    This  is  the  barrier  which  lies  between 
the  guilty,  and  their  offended  Lawgiver.     It  ia 
not  the  ingratitude  of  man,  but  the  incredulity 
of  man,  that  needs,  in  the  first  instance,  to  be 
overcome.     It  is  the  sullenness,  and  the  hard- 
ness, and  the   obstinacy    of  unbelief  which 
stands  as  a  gate  of  iron,  between  him  and  his 
enlargement.     Could  the  kindness  of  God,  in 
Christ  Jesus,  be  seen  by  him,  the  softening  of 
a  kindness  back  again,  would  be  felt  by  him. 
And  let  us  cease  to  wonder,  then,  at  the  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel,  when  they  lay  upon  belief  all 
the  stress  of  a  fundamental  operation ; — when 
they  lavish  so  much  of  their  strength  on  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  principle,  which  is  not  only 
initial,  but  indispensable ;  when  they  try  so 


SERMON  X.  -247 

strenuously  to  charm  that  into  existence,  with- 
out which  all  the  elements  of  a  spiritual  obedi- 
ence are  in  a  state  of  dormancy  or  of  death  ; — 
when  they  labour  at  the  only  practicable  way, 
by  which  the  heart  of  a  sinner  can  be  touched, 
and  attracted  towards  God  ; — when  they  try 
so  repeatedly,  to  hold  and  to  fasten  him,  by 
that  link  which  God  himself  hath  put  into  their 
hands — and  bring  the  mighty  principle  to  bear 
upon  their  hearers,  which  any  one  of  us  may 
exemplify  upon  the  poorest,  and  by  which 
both  Howard  and  Fry  have  tried  with  suc- 
cess, to  soften  and  to  reclaim  the  most  worth- 
less of  mankind. 

This   also  suggests  a  practical  direction  to 
Christians,  for  keeping  themselves  in  the  love 
of  God.     They  must  keep  themselves  in  the 
habit,  and  in  the  exercise  of  faith.     They  must 
hold  fast  that  conviction  in  their  minds,  the 
presence  of  which  is  indispensable  to  the  keep- 
ing of  that  affection  in  their  hearts.     This  is 
one  of  the  methods  recommended  by  the  apos- 
tle Jude,  when  he  tells  his  disciples  to  build 
themselves  up  on  their  most  holy  faith.     This 
direction  to  you  is  both  intelliglible  and  prac» 
ticable.     Keep  in  view  the  truths  which  you 
have    learned.     Cherish  that   belief  of'them 
which  you   q^lready  possess.     Recall  them  to 
your  thoughts,  and,  in  general,  they  will  not 
come   alone,  but  they  will  come  accompanied 
by  their  own  power,  and  their  own  evidence. 
You  may  as  well  think  of  maintaining  a  stead- 
fast attachment  to  vour  frir^nd.  after  vou  have 


248  SERMON  X. 

expunged  from  your  memory  all  the  demonstra- 
tions of  kindness  he  ever  bestowed  upon  you, 
as  to  think  of  keeping  your  heart  in  the  love  of 
God,  after  the  thoughts  and  contemplations  of 
the  gospel  have  fled  from  it.  It  is  just  by 
holding  these  fast,  and  by  building  yourself  up 
on  their  firm  certainty,  that  you  preserve  this 
affection.  Any  man,  versant  in  the  matters  of 
experimental  religion,  knows  well  what  it  is, 
when  a  blight  and  a  barrenness  come  over  the 
mind,  and  when,  under  the  power  of  such  a  vi- 
sitation, it  loses  all  sensibility  towards  God, 
There  is,  at  that  time,  a  hiding  of  his  counte- 
nance, and  you  lose  your  hold  of  the  manifest- 
ation of  that  love,  wherewith  God  loved  the 
world,  even  when  he  sent  his  only  begotten 
Son  into  it,  that  we  might  live  through  him. 
You  will  recover  a  right  frame,  when  you  re- 
cover your  hold  of  this  consideration.  If  you 
want  *  to  recair  the  strayed  affection  to  your 
heart-r-recall  to  your  mind  the  departed  ob- 
ject of  contemplation.  If  you  want  to  rein- 
state the'principle  of  love  in  your  bosom — rein- 
state faith,  and  it  will  w  ork  by  love.  It  is  got 
at  through  the  medium  of  believing,  and  trust- 
ing ; — Nor  do  we  know  a  more  summary,  and 
at  the  same  time,  a  more  likly  direction  for  li- 
ving a  life  of  holy  and  heavenly  affection,  than 
that  you  should  live  a  life  of  faith. 


SERMON  XL 

THE  AFFECTION  OF  MORAL  ESTEEM  TOWARDS  GOD, 


Psalm  xxvii.  4. 


«  One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will  I  seek 
after  5  that  1  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  to 
enquire  in  his  temple." 

In  our  last  discourse  we  adverted  to  the  effect 
of  a  certain  theological  speculation  about  love, 
in  darkening  the  freeness  of  the  gospel,  and  in- 
tercepting the  direct  influence  of  its  overtures 
and  its  calls  on  the  mind  of  an  enquirer.  Ere 
we  conceive  the  love  of  gratitude  towards 
another,  we  must  see  in  him  the  love  of  kmd- 
ness  towards  us;  and  thus,  by  those  who  have 
failed  to  distinguish  between  a  love  of  the  bene- 
fit, and  a  love  of  the  benefactor,  has  the  virtue 
of  gratitude  been  resolved  into  the  love  of  our- 
selves. And  they  have  thought  that  there  must 
surely  be  a  purer  affection  than  this,  to  mark 
the  outset  of  the  great  transition  from  sin  unto 
righteousness;  and  the  one  they  have  specified 

32 


250  SERMON  XI. 

is  the  disinterested  love  of  God.  They  have 
given  to  this  last  affection  a  place  so  early,  as 
to  distract  the  attention  of  an  enquirer  from  that 
which  is  primary.  The  invitation  of  "  come 
and  buy  w^ithout  money,  and  vt^ithout  price,"  is 
not  heard  by  the  sinner  along  with  the  exaction 
of  loving  God  for  himself, — of  loving  him,  on 
account  of  his  excellencies, — of  loving  him,  be- 
cause he  is  lovely.  Let  us,  therefore,  try  to  as- 
certain whether  even  this  love  of  moral  esteem 
is  not  subordinate  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel; 
and  whether  it  follows,  that  because  this  affec- 
tion forms  so  indispensable  a  part  of  godliness, 
faith  should,  on  that  account,  be  deposed  from 
the  place  of  antecedency  which  belongs  to  it. 

And  here  let  it  be  most  readily  and  most 
abundantly  conceded,  that  we  are  not  perfect 
£lnd  complete,  in  the  whole  of  God's  will,  till 
the  love  of  moral  esteem  be  in  us,  as  well  as  the 
love  of  gratitude, — till  that  principle,  of  which, 
by  nature,  we  are  utterly  destitute,  be  made  to 
arise  in  our  hearts,  and  to  have  there  a  tho- 
rough establishment,  and  operation, — till  we 
love  God,  not  merely  on  account  of  his  love  to 
our  persons,  but  on  account  of  the  glory,  and 
the  residing  excellence,  which  meet  the  eye  of 
the  spiritual  beholder,  upon  his  own  character. 
We  are.  not  preparing  for  heaven, — we  shall  be 
utterly  incapable  of  sharing  in  the  noblest  of  its 
enjoyments, — we  shall  not  feel  ourselves  sur- 
rounded by  an  element  of  congeniality  in  para- 


SERMON  XI.  251 

dise,— there  will  be  no  happiness  for  us,  even  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  throne  of  God,  and 
with  the  moral  lustre   of  the  Godhead  made 
visible  to  our  eyes,  if  we  are  strangers  to  the 
emotion  of  loving   God  for   himself, — if  addi- 
tional altogether,  to  the  consideration  that  God 
is  looking  with  complacency  upon  me,  I  do  not 
feel  touched  and  attracted  by  the  beauties  of  his 
character,  when  I  look  with  the  eye  of  contem- 
plation towards  him.     I   am  without  the  most 
essential  of  all  moral  accomplishments  in  myself^ 
if  I  am  without  the  esteem  of  moral  accomplish- 
ments in  another ;  and  if  my  heart  be  of  such  a 
constitution   that   nothing  in  the  character  of 
God  can  draw  my  admiration,  or  my  regard,  to 
him — then,  though  admitted  within  the  portals 
of  the  city  which  hath  foundations,  and  remov- 
ed from  the  torments  of  hell,  1  am  utterly  unfit 
for  the  joys  and  the  exercises  of  heaven.     I  may 
spend  an  eternity  of  exemption  from  pain,  but 
without  one  rapture  of  positive  felicity  to  bright- 
en it.     Heaven,  in  fact,  would  be  a  wilderness 
to  my  heart ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  its  acclaim- 
ing throng  would  I  droop,  and  be  in  heaviness 
under  a  sense  of  perpetual  dissolution. 

And  let  this  convince  us  of  the  mighty  tran- 
sition, that  must  be  described  by  the  men  of  this 
world,  ere  they  are  meet  for  the  other  world  of 
the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  It  is  not 
speaking  of  this  transition,  in  terms  too  great 


2j2  sermon  XL 

and  too  lofty,  to  say,  that  they  must  be  bom 
again,  and  made  new  creatures,  and  called  out 
of  darkness  into  a  light  that  is  marvellous.     The 
tntth  is,  that  out  of  the  pale  of  vital  Christianity, 
there  is  not  to  be  found  among  all  the  varieties 
of  taste,  and  appetite,  and  sentimental  admira- 
tion, any  love  for  God  as  he  is, — any  relish  for 
the  holiness  of  his  character, — any  echoing  tes- 
timony, in  the  bosom  of  alienated  man,  to  what 
is  graceful,  or  to  what  is  venerable  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  Deity.     He  may  be  feelingly  alive 
to  the  beauties  of  what  is  seen,  and  what  is  sen- 
sible.    The   scenery  of    external   nature    may 
charm  him.     The  sublimities  of  a  surrounding 
materialism    may  kindle  and   dilate  him   with 
images  of  grandeur.     Even  the  moralities  of  a 
fellow-creature  may  engage  him;  and  these,  with 
the  works  of  genius,  may  fascinate  him  into  an 
idolatrous  veneration   of  human   power,  or  of 
human  virtue.     But  while  he  thus  luxuriates  and 
delights  himself  with  the  forms  of  derived  ex- 
cellence, there  is  no  sensibility  in  his  heart  to- 
wards God.     He  rather  prefers  to  keep  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  and,  surrounded  by  them, 
<to  bury  himself  into  a  forgetfulness  of  his  Ma- 
ker.    He  is  most  in  his  element,  when  in  feeling, 
or  in  employment,  he  is  most  at  a  distance  from 
God.     There  is  a  coldness,  or  a  hatred,  or  a 
terror,  which  mixes  up  with  all  his  contempla- 
tions of  the  Deity ;  and  gives  to  bis  mind  a  kind 
of  sensitive   recoil  from  the   very  thought  of 


SERMON  XI.  253 

iiim.  He  would  like  to  live  always  in  the  world, 
and  be  content  with  such  felicity  as  it  can  give, 
and  cares  not,  could  he  only  get  what  his  heart 
is  set  upon  here,  and  be  permitted  to  enjoy  it 
for  ever,  though  he  had  no  sight  of  God,  and  no 
fellowship  with  him  through  eternity.  The 
event  to  which,  of  all  others,  he  looks  forward 
with  the  most  revolting  sense  of  aversion  and 
dismay,  is  that  event  which  is  to  bring  him  into 
a  nearer  contact  with  God, — which  is  to  dissolve 
his  present  close  relationship  with  the  creature, 
and  to  conduct  his  disembodied  spirit  into  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  Creator.  There  is 
nothing  in  death,  in  grim,  odious,  terrific 
death,  that  he  less  desires,  or  is  more  afraid  of, 
than  a  nearer  manifestation  of  the  Deity.  The 
world,  in  truth,  the  warm  and  the  well  known 
w^orld,  is  his  home  ;  and  the  men  who  live  in  it, 
and  are  as  regardless  of  the  Divinity  as  himself, 
form  the  whole  of  his  companionship.  Were 
it  not  for  the  fear  of  hell,  he  would  shrink  from 
heaven  as  a  dull  and  melancholy  exile.  All 
its  songs  of  glory  to  him  who  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  would  be  to  his  heart  a  burden  and  a 
weariness ; — and  thus  it  is,  that  the  foundation 
of  every  natural  man  has  its  place  in  that  pe- 
rishable earth,  from  which  death  will  soon  car- 
ry him  away,  and  which  the  fiery  indignation 
of  God  will  at  length  burn  up  y"  and  as  to 
the  being  who  endureth  for  ever,  and  with 
whom  alone  he  has  to  do,  he  sees  in  him  no 


254  SERMON  XL 

form   nor  comeliness,   nor  no  beauty   that  he 
should  desire  him. 

Now,  is  not  this  due  to  the  darkness  of  na- 
ture, as  well  as   to   the  depravity  of  nature? 
There  is  in  our  diseased  constitution,  a  spirit- 
ual blindness   to   the  excellencies  of  the  God- 
head, as  well  as  a  spiritual  disrelish  for  them. 
The  truth  is,  that  these  two  elements  go  to- 
gether in  the  sad  progress  of  human  degene- 
racy.    Man  liked  not  to  retain  God  in  his  know- 
ledge, and  God  gave  him  over  to  a  reprobate 
mind ;  and  again,  man  walking  in  vanity,  and  an 
enemy  to  God  by  wicked  works,  had  his  un- 
derstanding darkened,  and  was  visited  with  ig- 
norance, and  bhndness  of  heart.     We  do  not 
apprehend  God,   and   therefore   it  is   that  we 
must  be  renewed  in  the  knowledge  of  him,  ere 
we   can  be  formed  again  to  the  love  of  him. 
The'natural  man  can  no  more  admire  the  Deity 
through  the  obscurities  in  which  he  is  shrouded, 
than  he  can  admire  a  landscape  which  he  never 
»aw,  and  which  at  the  time  of  his  approach  to  it, 
is  wrapped  in  the  gloom  of  midnight.  He  can  no 
more,  with  every  effort  to  stir  up  his  faculties 
to  lay  hold  of  him,  catch  an  endearing  view 
of  the  Deity,  than  his   eye   can  by  straining, 
penetrate  its  way  through  a  darkened  firmament, 
to  the  features  of  that  material  loveliness  which 
lies  before  bim,  and  around  him.     It  must  be 
lighted  up  to  him,  ere  he  can  love  it,  or  enjoy  it, 
and  tell  us  what  the  degree  of  his  affection  for 


SERMON  XI.  25.3 

the  scenery  would  be,  if  instead  of  being  lighted 
up  by  the  peaceful  approach  of  a  summer  morn. 
It  were  to  blaze  into  sudden  visibility,  with  all 
its  cultivation  and  cottages,  by  the  fire^s  of  a 
bursting  volcano.  Tell  us,  if  all  the  glory  and 
gracefulness  of  the  landscape  which  had  thus 
started  into  view,  would  charm  the  beholder 
for  a  moment,  from  the  terrors  of  his  coming 
destruction !  Tell  us,  if  it  is  possible  for  a  sen- 
tient being,  to  admit  another  thought  in  such 
circumstances  as  these,  than  the  thought  of  his 
own  preservation.  O  would  not  the  sentiment 
of  fear  about  himself,  cast  out  every  setititnent 
of  love  for  all  that  he  now  saw,  and  were  he 
only  safe  could  look  upon  with  exstacy  ? — and 
let  the  beauty  be  as  exquisite  as  it  may,  w^ould 
not  all  the  power  and  pleasure  of  its  enchant- 
ments fly  away  from  his  bosom,  were  it  only 
seen  through  the  glowing  fervency  of  elements 
that  threatened  to  destroy  him  ? 

Let  us  now  conceive,  that  through  that  thick 
spiritual  darkness  by  which  every  child  of  na- 
ture is  encompassed,  there  was  forced  upon 
him,  a  view  of  the  countenance  of  the  Deity, — 
that  the  perfections  of  God  were  made  visible, — 
and  that  the  character  on  which  the  angels  of 
paradise  gaze  with  delight,  because  they  there 
behold  all  the  lineaments  of  moral  grandeur, 
and  moral  loveliness,  were  placed  before  the  eye 
of  his  mind,  in  bright  and  convincing  manifes- 
tation.    It  is  very  true,  that  on  ^vhat  he  would 


256  SERMON  XI. 

be  thus  made  to  see,  all  that  is  fau-  and  mag- 
nificent are  assembled, — that  whatever  of  great- 
ness, or  whatever  of  beauty  can  be  found  in 
creation,  is  but  a  faint  and  shadowy  transcript 
of  that  original  substantial  excellence,   which 
resides  in  the  conceptions  of  him  who  is  the 
fountain  of  being, — that  all  the  pleasing  of  good- 
^  ness,  and  all  the  venerable  of  worth,  and  all  the 
*     sovereign  command  of  moral  dignity  meet  and 
are  realised  on  the  person  of  God, — that  through 
the   whole  mnge  of  universal  existence,  there 
cannot  be   devised  a  single  feature   of  excel- 
lency, %^hich  does  not  serve  to  enrich  the  cha- 
racter of  him  who  sustains  all  things,  and  who 
originated  all  things.     No  wonder  that  the  pure 
eye  of  an  angel  takes  in  such  fulness  of  plea- 
sure from  a  contemplation  so  ravishing.     But 
let  all  this  burst  upon  the  eye  of  a  sinner,  and 
let  the  truth  and  the  righteousness  of  God  out  of 
Christ  stand  before  it  in  visible  array,  along  with 
the  other  glories  of  character  which  belong  to 
him.     The  love  of  moral  esteem,  you  may  say, 
ought   to  arise  in   his  bosom; — but  it  cannot. 
The  affection  is  in  such  circumstances  impos- 
sible.    The  man  is  in  terror.     And  he  can  no 
more  look   with    complacency  upon  his  God, 
than  he  can  delight  himself  with  the  fair  forms 
of  a  landscape,  opened  to  his  view,  by  the  flashes 
of  an  impending  volcano.      He  cannot  draw 
an  emotion  so  sw  eet,  and  dehghtful  as  love,  from 
the  view  of  that  countenance,  on  which  he  be- 


SERMON  XI.  257 

holds  a  purpose  of  vengeance  against  himself,  as 
one  of  the  children  of  iniquity.     The  fear  which 
hath  torment  casteth  out  this  affection  altoge- 
ther.    There  is  positively  no  room  for  it  within 
the  bosom  of  a  sentient  being,  along  with  the 
dread,  and  the  alarm  by  which  he  is  agitated.   It 
is  this  which  explains  the  recoil  of  his  sinful  na- 
ture,  from  the  thought  of  God.     The  sense  of 
guilt  comes  into  his  heart,  and  the  terrors  and 
the  agitations  of  guilt  come  along   with  it.     It 
is  because  he  sees  the  justice  of  God  frowning 
upon  him,  and  the  truth  of  God  pledged  to  the 
execution  of  its  threatenings  against  him,  and 
the  holiness  of  God,  which   cannot  look  upon 
him  without  abhorrence,  and  all  the  sacred  at- 
tributes of  a   nature  that  is   jealous,    and    un- 
changeable, leagued  against  him  for  his  everlast- 
ing  destruction.     He   cannot  love   the   Being, 
with  the  very  idea  of  whom  there  is  mixed  up 
a  sense  of  danger,  and  a  dread  of  condemnation, 
and  all  the  images  of  a  wretched  eternity.     We 
cannot  love  God,  so  long  as  we  look  upon  him 
as  an  enemy  armed  to  destroy  us.     Ere  we  love 
him,   we   must  be   made  to  feel  the   security, 
and  the  enlargement  of  one  who  knows  him- 
self to  be   safe.     Let  him   take  his  rod  away 
from  me,  and  let  not  his  fear,  terrify  me, — and 
th^  may  I  love  him  and  not  fear  him  ;  but  it  is 
not  so  w  ith  me. 

But  let  him   who   commanded  the  light  to 
shine  out  of    darkness,     shine    in  our  hearts 

33 


258  SERMON  XI. 

to  give  us  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  his  own 
glory,  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, — let  us  only 
look  upon  him  as  God  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  unto  himself,  and  not  imputing  unto 
them  their  trespasses, — let  him  without  expung- 
ing the  characters  of  truth,  and  majesty,  from 
that  one  aspect  of  perfect  excellence  which  be- 
longs to  him, — let  him  in  his  own  unsearchable 
wisdom  devise  a  way,  by  which  he  can  both 
bring  them  out  in  the  eye  of  sinners  with  bright- 
er illustration,  and  make  these  sinners  feel,  that 
they  are  safe, — let  him  lift  off  from*the  men  of 
this  guilty  world,  the  burden  of  his  violated  law, 
and  cause  it  to  be  borne  by  another  who  can 
magnify  that  law,  and  make  it  honourable, — let 
him  publish  a  full  release  from  all  its  penalties, 
but  in  such  a  way,  as  that  the  truth  which  pro- 
claimed them,  and  the  justice  which  should 
execute  them,  shall  remain  untainted  under 
this  dispensation  of  mercy, — let  him  instead  of 
awaking  the  sword  of  vengeance  against  us, 
awake  it  against  a  sufferer  of  such  worth  and 
such  dignity,  that  his  blood  shall  be  the  atone- 
ment of  a  world,  and  by  pouring  out  his  soul 
unto  the  death,  he  shall  make  the  pardon  of  the 
transgressor  meet,  and  be  at  one  with  the  ever- 
lasting righteousness  of  God, — in  a  word,  in- 
stead of  the  character  of  God  being  lighted  \\p 
to  the  eye  of  the  sinner,  by  the  fire  of  his  own 
indignation,  let  it  through  the  demonstration 
of  the  Spirit  be  illustrated,  and  shone  upon,  by 


SERMON  XI.  259 

the  mild,  but  peaceful  light  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness, and  then  may  the  sinner  look  in 
peace,  and  safety,  on  the  manifested  character 
of  the  Godhead.  Dehvered  from  the  burden  of 
his  fears,  he  may  now  open  his  whole  heart  to 
the  influences  of  affection.  And  that  love  of 
moral  esteem,  which  before  the  entrance  of  the 
faith  of  the  gospel,  the  sense  of  condemnation 
was  sure  to  scare  away,  is  now  free  to  take  its 
place  beside  the  love  of  gratitude,  and  to  arise 
along  with  it,  in  the  offering  of  one  spiritual 
sacrifice  to  a  reconciled  Father. 

Thus,  then,  it  would  appear,  that  the  love  of 
moral  esteem  is  in  every  way  as  much  posterior, 
and  subordinate  to  faith,  as  is  the  love  of  grati- 
tude. That  we  may  be  able  to  love  God,  either 
according  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  its  modifi- 
cations, we  must/r5^  know  that  God  loved  us. 
We  cannot  harbour  this  affection  in  any  one  shape 
whatever,  so  long  as  there  is  the  suspicion,  and 
the  dread  of  a  yet  unsettled  controversy  be- 
tween us  and  God.  Peace  with  our  offended 
Lawgiver,  is  not  the  fruit  of  our  love,  but  of  our 
faith; — and  faith  if  it  be  a  reality,  and  not  a 
semblance,  worketh  by  love.  We  have  peace 
with  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. — 
And  we  love  much  when  we  know,  and  believe, 
that  our  sins  are  forgiven  us. 

God  did  not  wait  for  any  returning  affection 
on  the  part  of  a  guilty  world,  ere  he  felt  an  af- 
fection for  it  himself     At  that  period  when  he 


260  SERMON  XL 

so  loved  the  world,  as  to  send  his  only  begotten 
Son  into  it, — did  it  exhibit  the  spectacle  of  an 
immense  prison-house  of  depravity.  Among 
the  men  of  it,  there  was  friendship  one  for  ano- 
ther, but  there  was  one  unalleviated  character 
of  enmity  against  God.  .  Measuring  themselves 
by  themselves,  there  was  often  a  high  mutual 
esteem  for  such  accomplishments,  as  were  in 
demand  for  the  good  of  society ; — but  that 
which  i«  highly  esteemed  among  men,  is  in 
God's  sight  an  abomination  ;  and  when  brought 
to  the  measure  of  that  universal  righteousness 
which  forms  the  standard  and  rule  of  Heaven's 
government,  was  it  found  that  our  species,  had 
through  all  its  generations  broken  off  from  their 
aliedance,  and  stood  at  as  wide  a  distance  from 
the  obedient,  and  unfallen  creation,  as  does  a 
colony  of  convicts,  from  the  country  which  has 
cast  them  out  of  its  borders.  And  it  was  at 
such  a  time,  when  the  world  liked  not  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge, — when  all  flesh  had 
corrupted  their  ways, — when  there  was  none 
seeking  after  God, — when  there  was  not  the 
thought,  or  the  wish,  of  a  movement  to  him  back 
again,  that  he  looked  with  pity  on  our  fallen 
race,  and  in  the  I'ulness  of  time,  sent  his  Son 
into  the  world  to  seek  and  to  save  us. 

And  the  same  is  true  of  every  individual  to 
whom  the  overtures  of  reconciliation  are  pro- 
posed. God  does  not  wait  for  any  change  of 
affection  in  our  heart,  ere  we  accept  of  pardon 


SERMON  XL  261 

at  his  hands.  But  he  asks  one  and  all  of  us 
now  to  accept  of  pardon,  and  to  submit  our 
heart  and  character  to  the  influences  of  that 
graee  which  he  is  ready  to  bestow  upon  us.  In 
the  gospel  he  proclaims  a  pardon  ready  made  for 
you,  a  deed  of  amnesty  which  he  is  even  now 
stretching  out  for  your  acceptance,  a  prevent- 
ing offer  of  mercy,  of  which  if  you  believe  the 
reality,  you  will  feel  that  he  is  your  friend,  and 
in  which  feeling  you  will  not  be  disappointed. 
He  does  not  expect  from  you  the  love  of  grati- 
tude, till  you  have  known,  and  believed  the 
great  things  that  he  hath  done  for  you.  But 
he  expects  from  you  the  offering  of  an  homage 
to  his  truth.  He  does  not  expect  from  you 
the  love  of  moral  esteem,  till,  released  from  the 
terror  of  having  him  for  your  enemy,  you  may 
contemplate  with  all  the  tranquil  calmness  of 
conscious  safety,  the  glories  and  the  graces  of 
his  manifested  character.  But  he  expects  from 
you  faith  in  his  declaration,  that  he  is  not  your 
enemy, — that  he  has  no  pleasure  in  your  death, 
— that  in  Christ  he  is  beseeching  you  to  be  re- 
conciled,— and  stretching  out  to  you  the  arms 
of  invitation. 

The  first  matter  on  hand,  then,  between  God 
and  sinners,  in  the  work  of  making  reconcilia- 
tion, is,  that  they  believe  in  him.  It  is,  that  the 
tidings  of  great  joy  shall  fall  upon  them  with 
credit,  and  acceptance.  It  is,  that  they  count 
the  sayings  of  the  word  of  this  life  to  be  faith- 


262  SERMON  XL 

ful  sayings.  It  is,  that  they  put  faith  in  the  re- 
cord which  God  hath  given  of  his  Son,  which 
if  they  do,  they  will  believe  that  God  hath 
given  them  eternal  life,  and  that  this  life  is  in  his 
Son. 

There  is  a  certain  speculation  about  the  dis- 
interested love  of  God,  which  has  served  to 
darken  and  to  embarrass  this  process.  It  has 
cast  an  unmerited  stiorma  on  the  love  of  grati- 
tude. But  its  worst  effect,  by  far,  is,  that  it  has 
impeded  the  freeness  of  the  overtures  of  the 
gospel.  It  has  perplexed  the  outset  of  many  an 
enquirer.  It  has  made  him  search  in  his  own 
mind  for  the  evidences  of  an  affection,  which 
he  never  can  meet  with,  till  he  embrace  the 
offers,  and  rely  upon  the  promises  of  the  New 
Testament.  It  has  deposed  faith  from  that  post 
of  presiding  supremacy  which  belongs  to  it, 
and  shifted  from  its  place  that  great  principle 
on  which  both  the  love  of  gratitude,  and  the 
love  of  moral  esteem  are  suspended. 

Let  us  cease  to  wonder,  then,  why  faith  oc- 
cupies so  much  the  station  of  a  preliminary  in 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  great  starting- 
point,  as  it  were,  of  Christian  discipleship.  Grant 
but  this  principle,  and  love,  with  all  the  vi- 
gour, and  all  the  alacrity  which  it  gives  to  obe- 
dience, will  emerge  from  its  operation.  There 
is  no  other  way,  in  fact,  of  charming  love  into 
existence  ;  and  the  gratitude  which  devotes  me 
to  the  service  of  a  reconciled  God,  and  the  love 


SERMON  XL  263 

of  his  character,  which  makes  me  meet  for  the 
enjoyment  of  him  in  heaven,  can  only  arise  in 
my  bosom  after  I  have  believed. 

Let  this  consideration  shut  you  up  unto  the 
faith.  Let  it  exalt,  in  your  estimation,  the 
mighty  importance  of  a  principle,  without  which 
there  can  neither  be  any  sanctification  here,  nor 
any  salvation  hereafter.  Think  it  not  enough 
that  you  import  it  into  your  mind  as  a  bare  ex- 
istence. Know  what  it  is  to  put  it  into  habitual 
exercise,  to  dwell  upon  the  truths  which  it  em- 
braces, and  to  submit,  in  feeling  and  practice, 
to  their  genuine  operation.  This  is  the  only 
way  in  which  you  can  ever  live  a  life  of  faith 
on  the  Son  of  God, — or  live  by  the  power  of  a 
world  to  come, — or  keep  yourselves  in  the  love 
of  God,  seeing  that  it  is  only  when  you  know 
and  believe  that  God  first  loved  you,  that  you 
can  be  made  to  love  him. 


In  the  progress  of  these  observations,  a  few 
thoughts  have  occurred,  which  we  trust  may 
be  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  brought 
forward, — and  which  we  bring  forward  now,  as 
supplementary  to  the  whole  argument. 

It  will  have  been  remarked,  that  we  do  not 
consider  man  as  altogether  incapable  of  the  love 
of  moral  esteem  towards  any  being  whatever. 
There  are  certain  virtues  of  character  which  do 


264  SERMON  XL 

call  forth  the  admiration  and  the  tenderness,  even 
of  our  diseased  nature,  when  thej  reside  some- 
where else  than  in  the  person  of  the  Deity. 
Let  our  depravity  be  what  it  may,  it  were  in  the 
face  of  all  observation  to  affirm,  that  man  does 
not  love  truth  rather  than  falsehood,  and  compas- 
sion rather  than  cruelty,  in  a  fellow-man, — and 
the  interesting  question  comes  to  be,  how  is  it 
that  these  qualities  appear  to  lose  all  the  force 
which  naturally  belongs  to  them,  of  attracting 
our  regard,  so  as  to  awaken  no  such  sentiment 
towards  God,  though  they  be  exemplified  by 
him,  in  a  degree  that  is  infinite  ? 

It  will  help  us,  in  part,  to  resolve  this  ques- 
tion, if  we  conceive  of  our  man  of  moral  virtues, 
that  his  very  truth,  and  justice,  and  compassion, 
lead  him,  in  the  defence  of  wronged  or  calumni- 
ated innocence,  to  turn  the  whole  force  of  his 
indignation  on  the  head  of  an  oppressor ;  and 
then  think  of  the  feeling  which  will  arise,  of 
consequence,  in  the  heart  of  the  latter.     It  will 
be  a  feeling  of  hatred  and  antipathy.     And  yet 
we  do  not  see  far  into  the  secrecies  of  the  hu- 
man constitution,  if  we  do  not  perceive,  that,  in 
perfect  consistency  with  this  feeling  of  personal 
dislike  to  the  man  of  virtue,  who  is  hostile  to 
him,  there  may  exist,  even  in  his  vitiated  soul, 
the  love  of  moral  esteem  toward  virtue  residing 
in  some  other  quarter,  or  exemplified  by  some 
other  individual.     Instead  of  this  virtue  being 
realized  on  the  person  of  one  who  is  an  enemy 


SERMON  XI.  serf 

to  myself,  let  it  be  offered  by  descriptioti  to  my 
notice,  in  the  person  of  one  who  lives  in  a  dis- 
tant country,  or  who  lived  in  a  distant  age,  and 
hi  the  thought  of  my  particular  adversary  be  not 
offensively  suggested  to  my  mind  by  such  a  con- 
templation,— and  I,  with  all  those  depravities 
which  have  provoked  the  resentment  of  my  up- 
right neighbour  against  me,  and  have  called  forth 
in  my  heart  a  corresponding  hatred  towards  him, 
will  offer  the  homage  of  my  regard  and  reve- 
rence towards  the  picture  of  moral  excellence, 
that  is  thus  set  before  me.  This  may  look  an 
anomalous  exhibition  of  our  nature  ;  but  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  more  so,  than  the  well-known  fact 
of  a  slave  proprietor,  at  one  time  wreaking  his 
caprice  and  his  cruelty  on  the  living  men  who 
are  around  him,  and  at  another  weeping,  in  all 
the  softness  of  pathetic  emotion,  over  the  dis- 
tresses of  a  fictitious  narrative.  Distress  in  one 
quarter  may  move  our  pity.  Distress  in  another 
may  be  inflicted  by  our  own  hand,  to  glut  our 
vindictive  propensities.  Worth,  in  the  person 
of  one  who  is  indifferent,  and  still  more  of  one 
who  is  friendly,  may  call  forth  our  warm  and 
honest  acknowledgments.  Worth,  in  the  per- 
son of  another,  the  very  principles  of  whose 
character  have  moved  him  to  irritate  our  pride, 
or  to  wound  our  selfishness,  may  turn  him  into 
the  object  of  our  most  passionate,  determined^ 
and  unrelenting  hostility. 

34 


%6e  SERMOxN  XL 

And  thus  it  is,  that  I  may  have  a  natural  taste 
for  several  of  the  virtues  which  enter  into  the 
Godhead,  and,  at  the  same  time,  may  have  a 
hatred  towards  the  person  of  the  Godhead. — 
This  natural  ta&te  may  be  regarded  by  some,  as 
a  predisposing  element  in  my  heart  towards  the 
love  of  God  ;  but  so  long  as  I  view  him  armed 
in  righteousness  to  destroy  me,  will  this  as  ef- 
fectually repress  the  embryo  affection,  as  if  still 
it  were  fast  slumbering  in  the  depths  of  nonen- 
tity.     It  is  willingly  admitted,  that  there  are 
certain  partial  sketches  of  the  character  of  the 
Deity,  which,  if  offered  to  our  notice,  in  a  state 
of  separation   from  his   anger  against   us   the 
children  of  disobedience,  would  kindle  in  our 
bosoms  a  feeling  of  tasteful  admiration.      But 
the  dread,^^  or  the  suspicion  of  his  anger  absorbs 
this  feeling  altogether  ;  and  however  much  we 
may  bear  the  semblance  of  love  for  his  charac- 
ter, when  we  look  to  certain  traits  of  it  in  a 
detached  and  broken  exhibition, — ^yet   this    i& 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  fact,  that  the  natu- 
ral mind  hates  the  person  of  the  Deity, — that 
the  natural  mind  is  enmity  against  God.     And 
this  ought  to  convince   us,  that  even  though 
there  should  be  predisposing  elements  of  love 
to  him  for  his  worth,  it  is  still  indispensable,  in 
order  to  change  our  hatred  into  affection,  that 
we  should  look  upon    God  as   having   ceased 
from  his  anger,  or  that  we  should  see  him  ar- 
rayed in  all  the  tenderness  of  offered  and  invit- 


SERMON  XL  267 

ing  friendship.  There  is  a  spell  by  which  thes^ 
;€lements  are  fastened,  and  which  can  never  be 
done  away,  till  God  woo  me  to  friendship  and 
confidence^  by  an  exhibition  of  good  will.  Faith 
in  the  cross  of  Christ,  is  the  primary  step  of  this 
approximation.  To  call  for  a  disinterested  af- 
fection towards  God,  from  one  who  looks  upon 
God  as  an  adversary,  and  that  even  though 
there  should  be  in  his  bosom  the  undeveloped 
seeds  of  regard  to  the  worth  or  character  of  the 
Supreme,  is  to  make  a  demand  on  a  sentient 
being,  which,  by  his  very  constitution,  he  is  un- 
able to  meet  or  to  satisfy.  And  is  not  this  de- 
mand still  more  preposterous,  when  it  comes 
from  a  quarter  where  the  depravity  of  man  is 
held  to  be  so  entire,  that  not  one  latent  or  pre- 
disposing element  towards  the  love  of  God  is 
ascribed  to  him  ?  Is  it  not  a  still  vainer  expec- 
tation to  think,  in  such  hopeless  circumstances 
as  these,  that  ere  man  seizes  the  gift  of  redemp- 
tion, he  shall  import  into  his  character  the  grace 
of  a  pure  and  spiritual  affection ;  that  with  the 
terror  of  his  bosom  yet  unpacified,  and  the 
countenance  of  God  upon  him  as  unrelenting  as 
ever,  there  shall  arise,  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
agitation,  a  love  to  that  Being,  the  very  thought 
of  whom  brings  a  sense  of  insecurity  along  with 
it;  or  that  a  guilty  creature,  who,  even  if  he 
had  in  a  state  of  dormancy  within  him  the  prin- 
ciples of  moral  regard  to  the  Divinity,  could 
not,  jonder  the  burden  of  wrath  still  unappeased' 


26i^  SERMON  XL 

charm  these  principles,  out  of  the  state  of  theiV 
inaction, — that  he,  even  were  he  utterly  desti- 
tute of  these  principles,  should  be  able,  under 
this  burden,  to  charm  them  out  of  the  state  of 
non-existence  ? 

And  this,  by  the  way,  may  serve  to  show  the 
whole  amountof  that  tasteful  sentimentalism,  in 
virtue  of  which,  a  transient  but  treacherous  and 
hollow  regard  towards  the  Divinity,  may  be  de- 
tected in  the  hearts  of  those  who  nauseate  the 
whole  spirit  and  contents  of  the  gospel.  They 
admit  into  their  contemplation  only  as  much  of 
the  character  of  God,  as  may  serve  to  make  out 
a  tender  or  an  engaging  exhibition  of  him. 
They  may  leave  entire  the  ground-work  of  his 
natural  attributes;  but,  in  every  survey  they 
take  of  the  moral  complexion  of  the  Godhead, 
they  refuse  to  look  to  all  his  moral  attributes 
put  together,  and  only  fasten  their  regard  upon 
one  of  them,  even  the  attribute  of  indulgence. 
They  cannot  endure  the  view  of  his  whole  char- 
acter ;  and  should  this  view  ever  intrude  itself,  it 
puts  to  flight  all  the  pathos  and  elegance  of  mere 
natural  piety.  Truth,  as  directed  against  them- 
selves; Holiness,  as  refusing  to  dwell  in  peace- 
fuler approving  fellowship  with  themselves ;  Jus- 
tice, as  committed  to  a  sentence  of  severe  and  in- 
flexible retribution  upon  themselves, — all  these 
are  out  of  their  contemplation  at  that  moment, 
Avhen  the  votaries  of  a  poetical  theism  feel  to- 
wards their  imagined  deity  an  evanescent  glow 


&ERMON  XI.  269 

of  affection  or  reverence.  But  truth  and  con- 
science are  ever  meddling  with  this  enjoyment ; 
and  piety  resting  on  so  frail  and  partial  a  foun- 
dation, never  can  attain  an  habitual  ascendencv 
over  the  character;  and  what  at  the  best  is  fic- 
titious, does  not,  and  ought  not,  to  have  more 
than  a  rare  and  a  little  hour  of  emotion  given  to 
it ;  and  this  may  explain  how  it  is,  that  with  the 
very  same  individual,  there  may  be  both  an  oc- 
casional recurrence  of  devotional  feeling,  and  a 
life  of  rooted  and  practical  ungodliness.  An  illu- 
sory representation  of  God  will  no  more  draw 
away  our  affections  from  the  world,  or  engage 
us  in  the  solid  and  experimental  business  of 
obedience  to  its  Maker,  than  the  flippancy  of  a 
novel  will  practically  influence  the  habits  of  na- 
ture, or  of  society.  And  thus  it  is,  that  the  re- 
ligion which  is  apart  from  Christianity,  falls  as 
far  short  of  true  religion,  as  the  humanity  we 
have  just  quoted,  falls  short  of  true  humanity. 

But  to  return..  We  have  already  said,  that 
even  though  there  did  exist  in  the  heart  of  man 
a  native  regard  to  certain  ingredients  of  worth 
in  the  character  of  the  Divinity,  a  previous  ex- 
hibition of  good  will  is  still  essential,  that  the 
person  of  the  Divinity  may  be  endeared  to 
him.  And  the  argument  for  such  a  priority, 
becomes  much  stronger,  when  it  is  made  out, 
on  a  farther  attention  to  this  matter,  that  there 
is^  in  fact,  no  such  native  or  predisposing  re- 
gard.    For,  though  it  be  true,  that  there  arc 


270  SERMON  XL 

certain  moral  virtues,  which,  when  reahzcd  wpon 
man,  draw  towards  them  the  love  and  the  re- 
verence even  of  our  depraved  nature,  and  which, 
when  heightened  into  perfection  upon  God, 
should  therefore,  it  might  be  conceived,  obtain 
from  nature,  if  placed  in  favourable  circumstan- 
ces, the  homage  of  a  love  still  more  tender,  and 
of  a  reverence  still  more  profound ; — yet  there 
is  one  great  and  comprehensive  quality  by  which 
all  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Godhead  are  per- 
vaded, and  for  which,  we  can  detect  no  native 
and  no  kindred  principle  of  attachment  what- 
ever, in  the  constitution  of  our  species.  We 
allude  to  the  holiness  of  the  Godhead.  Were 
we  asked  to  define  this  holiness,  we  should  feel 
that  we  were  not  giving  to  the  term  its  full  sig- 
nificancy,  by  saying,  that  it  merely  consisted  in 
the  absolute  perfection  of  all  the  moral  virtues 
of  the  Divinity.  It  is  a  term,  which,  in  the 
appropriate  force  of  it,  denotes  contrast  or  se- 
paration. It  was  for  this  reason  assigned  to 
the  vessels  of  the  temple,  and  just  because  they 
were  set  apart  from  common  use.  To  have 
made  them  common,  would  have  been  to  make 
them  unclean,  or  unholy.  To  have  turned  them 
to  any  ordinary  or  household  purposes,  would 
have  been  to  inflict  upon  them  such  a  touch  of 
profanation,  that  their  holiviess  would  have  de- 
parted from  them.  Had  there  been  a  full  and 
perfect  sense  of  God  in  every  house,  and  in  every 
heart, — had  the  presence  of  the  Divinity  been 


SERMON  XI.  271 

equally  felt  by  his  creatures  at  all  times,  and  in 
all  places,— -had  the  will  of  the  Divinity  held  as 
presiding  an  influence  over  the  every-day  doings, 
as  over  the  services  of  the  solemn  and  extraor- 
dinary occasion,— then  there  might  have  been 
no  temple,  and  no  ritual  observation,  and,  of  con- 
sequence, no  room  for  such  an  application  of 
the  term  hohness.  A  thing  is  not  consecrated 
by  being  set  apart  from  that  which  is  equally 
pure  and  sacred  with  itself;  and  did  there  obtain 
an  equal  and  universal  purity  throughout  the 
whole  system  of  nature,  there  could  be  no  need 
for  separation.  In  these  circumstances  there 
would  have  been  no  contrast,  and,  therefore,  no 
demand  for  such  a  term  as  that  of  holiness. 

This  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  force  and  im- 
port of  the  term,  as  applied  to  the  character  of 
God.     It  does  not  signify  the  moral  perfection 
of  his  character,  taken  absolutely.     It  signifies 
this  perfection  in  relation  to  its  opposite.  When 
we  look  to  the  holiness  of  the  divine  character, 
we  look  to  it  in  its  aspect  of  lofty  separation 
from  all  that  can  either  taint  or  debase  it.     We 
look  to  its  irreconcilable  variance  with  sin.     We 
look    to    the   inaccessible  height  at   which    it 
stands  above  all  the  possible  acquirements  of 
created  nature,  insomuch,  that  he  who  possesses 
it,  charges  even  his  angels  with  folly:  and  when 
created  nature  is  not  only  imperfect,  but  sinful, 
we  tlien  look  to  the  recoil  of  the  Divinity  from 
all  contact,  and  from  all  approximation.     We 


272  SERMON  Xl 

think  of  the  purer  eyes  than  can  behold  iniquity^ 
and  of  the  presence  so  sacred,  that  evil  cannot 
dwell  with  it.     We  think  of  that  sanctuary  into 
which  there  cannot  enter  any  thing  that  defileth, 
or  that  maketh  a  lie, — a  sanctuary  guarded  by 
all  the  jealousies  of  the   Divine  nature^  and  so 
repugnant  to  the   approach  of  pollution^  that  if 
it  offer  to  draw  nigh,  the  fire  of  a  consuming 
indignation  will  either  check,  or  will  destroy  it. 
Now,  were  the  whole   severity  of  this  attri- 
bute  directed  against  the   violations   of  social 
kindness,   and  social   equity,   we  would  admit 
that  there  was  a  ready  coalescence  with  it  in 
the  principles  of  our  natural  constitution.     But 
when  it  searches  into  the  character  of  the  most 
urgent  affections   of  nature,   and  there  detects 
the  very  essence  of  sinfulness ; — when  it  sits  in 
judgment  over  the   preference  given  by  every 
child  of  Adam  to  the  creature,  rather  than  the 
Creator,  and  holds  this  in  righteous  abomination ; 
— when  it  looks  through  a  society  of  human  be- 
ings, and  pronounces,  in  spite  of  all  the  justice 
by  which  its  interests  are  guarded,  and  of  all 
the  humanity  by  which  its  ills  are  softened,  or 
done  away,  that,  w  holly  given   over  to  the  en- 
joyment of  the  world,  it  is  wholly  immersed  in 
the  guilt  of  an  idolatry,  by  which  the  jealousies 
of  the  supreme  and  spiritual  God  are  provoked 
to  the   uttermost; — when  holiness  is  thus  seen, 
not  merely  in  its  antipathy  to  crime,  which  is 
occasional  and  rare,  but  in  its  antipathy  to  an 


SERMON  XL  273 

affection,  the  rooted  obstinacy  of  which,  and 
the    engrossing   power  of  which,   arc  univer- 
sal,— then  so  far  from   the  coalescence  uf  ap- 
provhig    nature,   do  we   behold  the  revolt  of 
pained  and  irritated  nature.     It  no  more  fol- 
lows, because  man  loathes  the  cruelty  or  the  in- 
justice of  his  fellow-man,  that  he  therefore  car- 
ries in  his  heart  a  predisposing  element  of  re- 
gard for  the  essential  character  of  God,  than  it 
follows,  because  a  man  would  sicken  with  dis- 
gust at  the  atrocities  of  a  prison-house,  that  he 
therefore  feels  his  element  and  his  joy  to  be  in 
the  humble   piety   of  a  conventicle.     A  high- 
minded  and  an  honourable  merchant  finds  room 
in  his  bosom  for  the  love  both  of  truth  and  of 
the  world.     Yet  the  one  is  an  attribute  of  God, 
while  the  love  of  the  other  is  opposite  to  the 
love  of  God.     "  If  any  man  love  the  world," 
says  an  aposde,  "  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not 
in  him."     He  may  like  the  transcript  of  truth, 
and  of  many  other  virtues  on  the  face  of  the 
creature,  but  he  likes  not  the  Creator.     He  can 
gaze,  and  that  even  with  rapture,  on  the  partial 
and  imperfect  sketches  of  the  unfinished  copy, 
but  he  shrinks  from  the  view  of  the  entire  ori- 
ginal.    He  can  hold  the  intercourse  of  wistful 
thoughts,    and    fervent    aspiration,    with    the 
absent  object  of  his  earthly  regard,  but  he  has 
neither  taste  nor  capacity  for  communion  with 
his  Father  in  heaven.     "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord 
God,  Almighty,"  is  the  anthem  of  the  celes- 

55 


274  SERMON  XL 

tial,  but  theirs  is  a  delight  which  he  cannot 
share  in.  And  as  surely  as  his  body  would 
need  to  be  transformed,  ere  it  could  cease  to 
have  pain  amid  the  agonies  of  hell, — so  surely 
would  his  mind  need  to  be  transformed,  ere  it 
ceased  to  feel  a  confinement  and  an  irksomeness 
amid  the  halleluiahs  of  paradise. 

Even  th  ugh  man,  then,  had  in  his  heart  a 
nascent  affection  for  the  character  of  God,  this 
would  be  restrained  from  passing  onwards  to  an 
affection  for  his  person,  by  a  sense  of  guilt, 
and  the  consequent  dread  of  God  as  an  enemy. 
Nor  could  the  love  of  God  be  inserted  in  his 
bosom,  till  by  faith  in  the  expiation  of  the  gos- 
pel, that  which  letteth  was  taken  out  of  the 
way.  But  still  more,  if,  in  conformity  to  our 
present  argument,  there  be  no  such  nascent 
affection  for  the  Divine  character,  is  it  hopeless 
to  attempt  the  establishment  of  love  antece- 
dently to  belief,  or  that  attachment  should  take 
possession  of  the  heart,  ere  fear  takes  its  depar- 
ture away  from  it.  Even  if  by  the  working  of 
some  power  unknown  in  the  human  constitution, 
or  by  some  effort,  the  success  of  which  has  ne- 
ver yet,  in  a  single  instance,  been  experienced, 
there  could  be  made  to  arise  in  the  soul,  the 
love  of  holiness,  previous  to  the  act  of  trusting 
in  the  offered  Saviour, — a  terror  at  God,  which, 
in  the  absence  of  this  trust,  is  the  instinctive 
and  universal  feeling  of  nature,  would  just  as 
effectually  repress  the   love  of  holiness,  as  it 


SERMON  XL  275 

does  the  love  of  truth,  or  of  compassion,  or  of 
justice,  from  carrying  us  onwards  to  a  regard  for 
the  person  of  the  Godhead.     To  put  the  love  of 
God's  character  into  a  heart  not  yet  brought  in- 
to enlargement  by  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  would 
just  be  to  put  it  into  a  prison-hold,  and  there  to 
chain  it  down  to  a  fruitlessness  and  inactivity, 
w^here  it  would  be  wholly  unproductive  of  love 
to  God  himself     Confidence  must  take  the  pre- 
cedency of  this  love,  even  in  a  bosom  already 
furnished  with  the  preparatory  elements  of  of- 
fection;    and  how  much  more   essential  then 
is  it,  that  it  should  take  the  precedency  in  a 
bosom,   where    these    elements    are  altogether 
wanting  ?    Faith  is  thus  more  strongly  evinced 
to  be  a  thing  of  prior  and  indispensable  ne- 
cessity.    Without  it,  even  the  seed  of  any  pre- 
cious affection  for  the  Godhead,  stifled  in  em- 
bryo, would  not  blow  into  luxuriance.     And  if 
our  nature  be  such  a  wilderness  that  no  seed  is 
there,— if  the  thing  w  anted  be  the  germination 
of  a  new  principle,  and  not  the   development  of 
an  old, — if  it  be  by  a  creative  and  not  by  a 
mere  fostering  process,  that  we  are  transformed 
into  a  meetness  for  heaven, — if  the  agency  that 
is  made  to  bear  upon  the  human  soul,  must 
have  a  power  to  regenerate  as  well  as  to  repair, 
— and  if  the  promise  of  this  agency  be  given 
only  to  those  who  believe,  then  let  us  no  more 
linger,  or  be  bewildered,  in  that  abyss  of  help- 
lessness from  which  faith  alone  can  extricate  the 


276  SERMON  Xf. 

enquirer, — let  us  no  longer  arrest  the  eye  of 
confidence  from  that  demonstration  of  good  will, 
which  is  held  out  to  the  most  widely  alienated 
of  sinners, — but  hasten  to  place  ourselves,  even 
now,  on  that  foundation  of  trust,  where  alone 
we  are  made  the  w^orkmanship  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our 
hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  t 

''  Destroy  this  temple,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  and 
I  will  raise  it  up  again  in  three  days."  It  is  there 
alone  that  w^e  can  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord 
and  be  safe*  This  place  of  greatest  security,  is 
also  the  place  of  chiefest  glory.  It  is  when  ad- 
mitted into  this  greater  and  more  perfect  taber- 
nacle, that  we  can  look  on  majesty  without  ter- 
ror, and  on  holiness  without  an  overwhelming 
sense  of  condemnation.  The  sinner  encircled  in 
mercy  look  in  tranquil  contemplation  on  all  that 
is  awful  and  venerable  in  the  character  of  the 
Godhead, — and  never  do  truth,  and  righteous- 
ness, and  purity,  appear  in  loftier  exhibition  be- 
fore him,  than  when,  withheld  from  his  own 
person,  he  sees  the  whole  burden  of  their  aveng- 
ing laid  upon  the  head  of  the  great  Sacrifice. 

"  One  thing  have  I  desired  of  the  Lord,"  says 
the  Psalmist;  "  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  courts 
of  the  Lord,  all  the  days  of  my  life,  to  behold 
the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  to  enquire  in  his 
temple."  It  is  not  till  we  are  within  the  por- 
tals of  the  place  of  refuge  that  this  desire  can 
obtain    its    fulfilment.     Selfishness  may  have 


SERMON  XL  277 

originated  the  movemt?nt  which  took  us  there. 
The  fear  of  the  coming  wrath  may  have  lent 
celerity  to  our  footsteps.  A  joyful  sense  of  de- 
liverance may  have  been  felt,  ere  the  glories  of 
the  divine  character  were  seen  in  bright  and 
convincing  manifestation.  The  love  of  grati- 
tude may  have  kindled  within  us, — and,  with  the 
Psalmist,  we  may  have  to  seek,  and  to  enquire, 
and  to  have  daily  exercise  and  meditation,  ere 
the  love  of  moral  esteem  has  attained  the  place 
of  ascendency  which  b  elongs  to  it.  Neverthe- 
less, the  chief  end  of  man  is  to  glorify  God,  and 
to  enjoy  him  for  ever.  This  is  the  real  destina- 
tion of  every  individual  who  is  redeemed  from 
among  men.  This  should  be  the  main  object  of 
all  his  prayers,  and  all  his  preparations.  It  is 
this  which  fits  him  for  the  company  of  heaven ; 
and  unless  there  be  a  growing  taste  for  God, 
in  the  glories  of  his  excellency, — for  God,  in  the 
beauties  of  his  holiness, — there  is  no  ripening, 
and  no  perfecting,  for  the  mansions  of  immor- 
tality. Though  you  have  to  combat,  then,  with 
the  sluggishness  of  sense,  and  with  the  real 
aversion  of  nature  to  every  spiritual  exercise, 
you  must  attempt,  and  strenuously  cultivate,  the 
habit  of  communion  with  God.  And  as  no 
man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son  reveal 
him,  and  as  it  is  by  the  Spirit  that  Christ  gives 
light  to  those  who  believe  in  him ; — for  the  at- 
tainment of  this  great  moral  and  spiritual  ac- 
complishment, do  what  the  Apostle  directs  you. 


278  SERMON  XL 

when  he  says,  "  Keep  yourselves  in' the  love  of 
God,  by  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Your  first 
endeavours  may  be  feeble,  and  fatiguing,  and  fruit- 
less. But  God  will  not  despise  the  day  of  small 
things, — nor  will  the  light  of  his  countenance  be 
always  withheld  from  those  who  aspire  after  it, 
— nor  will  the  soul  that  thirsts  after  God,  be 
left  for  ever  unsatisfied, — and  the  life  and  peace 
of  being  spiritually  minded,  will  come  in  rich 
experience  to  his  feelings, — and  the  whole  habit 
of  his  tastes  and  enjoyments,  will  be  in  diame- 
tric opposition  to  that  of  the  children  of  the 
world, — God  being  the  habitation  to  which  he 
resorts  continually, — God  being  the  strength 
of  his  heart,  and  his  portion  for  evermore. 


SERMON  XII. 


THE  EMPTINESS  OF  NATURAL  VIRTUE. 


John  v.  24. 
•*  But  I  know  you,  that  ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in.  you."' 

When  it  is  said,  in  a  former  verse  of  the  gos- 
pel, that  Jesus  knew  what  was  in  man,  we  feel, 
that  it  is  a  tribute  of  acknowledgment,  ren- 
dered to  his  superior  insight,  into  the  secrecies 
of  our  constitution.  It  was  not  the  mere  fa- 
culty of  perceiving  what  lay  before  him,  that 
was  ascribed  to  him  by  the  Evangelist.  It 
was  the  faculty  of  perceiving  what  lay  dis- 
guised under  a  semblance,  that  would  have 
imposed  on  the  understanding  of  other  men.  It 
was  the  faculty  of  detecting.  It  was  a  dis- 
cerning of  the  spirit,  and  that  not  through 
the  transparency  of  such  unequivocal  symp- 
toms, as  brought  its  character  clearly  home  to 
the  view  of  the  observer.  But  it  was  a  dis- 
cerning of  the  spirit,  as  it  lay  wrapt  in  what, 
to  an  ordinary  spectator,  was  a  thick  and  im- 
penetrable hiding  place.     It  was   a  discovery 


280  SERMON  XII. 

there  of  the  real  posture  and  habitude  of  the 
soul.  It  was  a  searching  of  it  out,  through  all 
the  recesses  of  duplicity,  winding  and  counter- 
wiijding  in  such  a  way,  as  to  elude  altogether 
the  eye  of  common  acquaintanceship.  It  was 
the  assigning  to  it  of  one  attribute,  at  the  time 
when  it  wore  the  guise  of  another  attribute, — of 
utter  antipathy  to  the  nature  and  design  of  his 
mission,  at  the  very  time  that  multitudes  were 
drawn  around  him,  by  the  fame  of  his  mira- 
cles,— of  utter  indifference  about  God,  at  the 
very  time  that  they  zealously  asserted  the  sanc- 
tity of  his  sabbaths,  and  resented  as  blasphe- 
mous, whatever  they  felt  to  be  an  usurpation  of 
the  greatness  which  belonged  to  him  only. 

It  was  in  the  exercise  of  this  faculty,  that 
Jesus  came  forward  with  the  utterance  of  our 
text.  The  Jews,  by  whom  he  was  surrounded, 
had  charged  him  with  the  guilt  of  profanation, 
and  sought  even  to  avenge  it  by  his  death,  be- 
cause he  had  healed  a  man  on  the  sabbath  day. 
And  their  desire  of  vengeance  was  still  more 
inflamed,  by  what  they  understood  to  be  an  as- 
sertion, on  his  part,  of  equality  with  God.  And 
yet,  under  all  this  appearance,  and  even  with  all 
this  reality  of  a  zeal  about  God,  did  he  who 
knew  what  was  in  man,  pronounce  of  these  his 
enemies,  that  the  love  of  God  was  not  in  them. 
I  know  you,  says  he, — as  if  at  this  instant  he  had 
put  forth  a  stretch  of  penetration,  in  order  to  find 
his  way  through  all  the  sounds  of  godliness  which 


SERMON  XII.  281 

he  heard,  and  through  all  the  symptoms  of  god- 
liness which  he  saw,—!  know  that  there  does  not 
exist  within  you  that  principle,  which  hnks  to 
God,  the  whole  of  God's  obedient  creation,— 
I  know  that  you  do  not  love  him,  and  that, 
therefore,  you  are  utterly  in  want  of  that  affec- 
tion, which  hes  at  the  root  of  all  real,  and  of  all 
acceptable  godliness. 

It  is  mortifying  to  the  man  who  possesses 
many  accompHshments  of  character,  to  be  told, 
that  the  greatest  and  most  essential  accom- 
pHshment  of  a  moral  being,  is  that  of  which  he 
has  no  share, — that  the  principle  on  which  we 
expatiated  in  our  last  discourses,  does  not,  in 
any  of  its  varieties,  belong  to  him, — that,  want- 
ing it,  he  wants  not  merely  obedience  to  the 
first  and  the  greatest  commandment,  which  is 
the  love  of  God,  but  he  wants  what  may  be 
called  the  impregnating  quality  of  all  accepta- 
ble obedience  whatever, — the  spirit  which  ought 
to  animate  the  performance  of  every  other 
commandment,  and  without  which,  the  most  la- 
borious conformity  to  the  law  of  Heaven,  may 
do  no  more  than  impress  upon  his  person  the 
cold  and  lifeless  image  of  loyalty,  while  in  his 
mind  there  is  not  one  of  its  essential  attributes. 
We  know  not  a  more  useful  exercise  than 
that  of  carrying  round  this  conviction,  amongst 
all  the  classes  and  conditions  of  humanity.  In 
the  days  of  our  Saviour,  the  pride  of  the  Pha- 
risees  stood  opposed  to  such  a  demonstration  ; 

m 


28^2  SERMON  Xll. 

and  in  our  own  days  too,  there  are  certain  pre- 
tensions of   worth,   and  of   excellence,   which 
must  be  disposted,  ere  we  can  hope   to  obtain 
admittance  for  the  humiliating^  doctrine  of  the 
gospel.     For  this  gospel,  it  must  be  observed, 
proceeds  upon  the  basis,  not  of  a  partial,  but 
of  an   entire  and   universal   depravity,  among 
the  men  of  the    world.     It    assimilates  all  the 
varieties  of  the  human  character  into  one  com- 
mon condition  of  guilt,  and  need,  and  helpless- 
ness.    It   presumes   the   existence    of    such  a 
moral  disease  in    every   son    and    daughter  of 
Adam,  as  renders  the  application  of  the  same 
moral  remedy  indispensable  to  them   all.     The 
formalists  of  Judea  did   not   like   to   be   thus 
grouped  with  publicans  and  harlots,  under  one 
description  of  sinfulness.  Nor  do  men  of  taste, 
and  feeling,  and  graceful  morality,  in  our  pre- 
sent day,   readily  understand  how  they  should 
require  the  same  kind  of  treatment,  in  the  work 
of  preparing   them   for   immortality,   with  the 
most   glaringly    profligate  and    unrighteous    of 
their  neighbourhood.  They  look  to  the  ostensi- 
ble marks  of  distinction  between  themselves  and 
others  ; — and  what  wider  distinction,  they  think, 
can  possibly  be  assigned,  than  that  which  ob- 
tains between  the  upright,  or  the  kind-hearted, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  ungenerous,  or  dishon- 
est, on  the  other?  Now,  what  we  propose,  in  the 
following  discourse,  is  to  lead  them  to  look  a 
little  farther,— and  then  they  will  see  at  least  one 


SERMON  XII.  283 

point  of  similarity  between  these  two  classes,  the 
want  of  one  common  ingredient  with  both,  and 
which  attaches  to  each  of  them  a  great  moral 
defect,  that  can  only  be  repaired  by  one  and  the 
same  application. 

It  is  well  when  we  can  find  out  an  accordan- 
cy  between  the  actual  exhibition  of  human  na- 
ture on  the  field  of  experience,  and  the  repre- 
sentation that  is  given  of  this  nature  on  the 
field  of  revelation.  Now,  the  Bible  every  where 
groups  the  individuals  of  our  species,  into  two 
general  and  distinct  classes,  and  assigns  to  each 
of  them  its  appropriate  designation.  It  tells  us 
of  the  vessels  of  wrath,  and  of  the  vessels  of  mer- 
cy-; of  the  travellers  on  a  narrow  path,  and  on  a 
broad  way;  of  the  children  of  this  world,  and  the 
children  of  light;  and,  lastly,  of  men  who  are  car- 
nally minded,  and  men  who  are  spiritually  mind- 
ed. It  employs  these  terms  in  a  meaning  so 
extensive,  that  by  each  couplet  of  them  it  em- 
braces all  individuals.  There  is  no  separate 
number  of  persons,  forming  of  themselves  a  neu- 
tral class,  and  standing  without  the  limits  of  the 
two  others.  And  were  it  possible  to  conceive, 
that  human  nature,  as  it  exists  at  present  in  the 
world,  were  laid  in  a  map  before  us,  you  would 
see  no  intermediate  ground  between  the  two 
classes  which  are  thus  contrasted  in  the  Bible, 
— but  these  thrown  into  two  distinct  regions, 
with  one  clear  and  vigorous  line  of  demarcatioH 
between  them. 


284  SERMON  XII. 

We  often  read  of  this  line,  and  we  often  read 
of  the  transition  from  the  one  to  the  other  side 
of  it.  But  there  is  no  trace  of  any  middle  de- 
partment to  be  met  with  in  the  New  Testan  ent. 
The  alternative  has  only  two  terms,  and  ours  must 
be  the  one  or  the  other  of  them.  And  as  surely 
as  a  day  is  coming,  when  all  the  men  of  our  as- 
sembled world  shall  be  found  on  the  right  or 
on  the  left  hand  of  the  throne  of  judgment — so 
surely  do  the  carnal  and  the  spiritual  regions  of 
human  nature,  stand  apart  from  each  other;  and 
all  the  men  who  are  now  living  on  the  surface 
of  the  world,  are  to  be  found  on  the  right,  or  on 
the  wrong  side,  of  the  line  of  demarcation. 

We  cannot  conceive,  then,  a  question  of 
mightier  interest,  than  the  situation  of  this  line, 
— a  line  which  takes  its  own  steady  and  un- 
faultering  way  through  the  thousand  varieties 
of  character  that  exist  in  the  world  ;  and  which 
reduces  them  all  to  two  great,  and  awfully  im- 
portant divisions.  It  marks  off  one  part  of  the 
species  froin  the  other.  We  are  quite  aware 
that  the  terms  which  are  employed  to  charac- 
terize the  two  sets  are  extremely  unfashionable  ; 
and,  what  is  more,  are  painfully  offensive  to  m^- 
ny  a  mind,  whose  taste,  and  whose  habits,  have 
not  yet  been  brought  under  the  overpowering 
controul  of  God's  own  message,  expressed  in 
God's  own  language.  They  are  such  terms  as 
would  be  rejected  with  a  positive  sensation  of 
disgust   by   many   a   moralist,    and   wowld   be 


SERMON  XII.  285 

thought  by  many  more,  to  impart  the  blemish  of 
a  most  hideous  deformity,  to  his  eloquent  and 
philosophical  pages.  It  is  curious  here  to  ob- 
serve how  much  the  Maker  of  the  human  mind, 
and  the  mere  observer  of  the  human  mind, 
differ  in  their  views  and  representations  of  tlie 
same  object.  But  when  told,  on  the  highest  of 
all  authority,  that  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death, 
and  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace, 
we  are  compelled  to  acknowledge  with  a  feeling 
of  earnestness,  greater  than  mere  curiosity  can 
inspire,  that  the  application  of  these  terms,  is  a 
question  of  all  others  the  most  deeply  affecting 
to  the  fears,  and  the  wishes  of  humanity. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  question,  let  me 
attempt  to  bring  a  succession  of  characters  be- 
fore you,  most  of  which  must  have  met  your 
own  distinct  and  famiHar  observation ;  and  ot 
which,  while  exceedingly  various  in  their  com- 
plexion, we  hope  to  succeed  in  convincing  you, 
that  the  love  of  God,  at  least,  is  not  in  them. — 
If  this  can  be  made  out  against  them,  it  may  be 
considered  as  experimentally  fixing  to  which  of 
the  two  great  divisions  of  humanity  they  be- 
long. All  who  love  God,  may  have  boldness, 
when  they  think  of  the  day  of  judgment,  be- 
cause, like  unto  God,  who  himself  is  love,  they 
will  be  pronounced  meet  for  the  enjoyment, 
and  the  fellowship  of  him  through  eternity. — 
And  they  who  want  this  affection  when  they 
die  shall  be  turned  into  hell.     They  shall  be 


286  SERMON  XII. 

found  to  possess  that  carnal  mind  which  is 
enmity  against  God.  So  that  upon  the  single 
point  of  whether  they  possess  this  love  or  not, 
hinges  the  question  which  I  have  just  now 
started, — a  question  surely  which  it  were  better 
for  every  man  to  decide  at  the  bar  of  conscience 
now,  ere  it  comes  under  the  review  of  that 
dread  tribunal  which  is  to  award  to  him  hi& 
everlasting  habitation. 

I.  Let  us  first  offer  to  your  notice,  a  man 
living  in  the  grossness  of  animal  indulgence, — a 
man,  the  field  of  whose  enjoyments  is  altogether 
sensual, — and  who,  therefore,  in  addition  to  the 
charge  he  brings  down  upon  himself,  of  direct- 
ly violating  the  law  of  God,  is  regarded  by  the 
admirers  of  what  is  tasteful  and  refined  in  the 
human  character,  as  a  loathsome  object  of  con- 
templation. There  is  something  more  here 
than  mere  wickedness  of  character  to  excite 
the  regret  or  detestation  of  the  godly.  There 
is  sordidness  of  character  to  excite  the  dis- 
gust of  the  elegant.  And  let  us  just  add  one 
feature  more  to  this  portrait  of  deformity.  Let 
us  suppose  the  man  in  question  to  have  so 
abandoned  himself  to  the  impulses  of  selfishness, 
that  no  feeling  and  no  principle  whatever,  re- 
strains him  from  yielding  to  its  temptations, — 
that  to  obtain  the  gratification  he  is  in  quest  of, 
he  can  violate  all  the  decencies,  and  bid  away 
from  him  all  the  tendernesses  of  our  common 
humanity, — that  he  has  the  hardihood  to  set  the 


SERMON  XII.  287 

terrors  of  the  civil  law  at  defiance, — and  that, 
for  the  money  which  ministers  to  every  earthly 
appetite,  he  can  even  go  so  far,  as  to  steel  his 
heart  against  the  atrocity  of  a  murder.  When 
we  have  thus  set  before  you,  the  picture  of  one 
feasting  on  the  prey  of  his  inhuman  robberies, 
we  have  surely  brought  our  description  as  far 
down  in  the  scale  of  character,  as  it  can  well  be 
carried.  And  we  have  done  so,  on  purpose 
that  you  may  be  at  no  loss  to  assign  the  place 
which  belongs  to  him.  It  were  a  monstrous 
supposition  altogether,  that  either  the  love  of 
gratitude,  or  the  love  of  moral  esteem  for  the 
Deity,  were  to  be  found  in  the  bosom  of  such  a 
man.  He  then,  of  all  others,  is  not  spiritual  but 
carnal;  nor  do  we  anticipate  a  single  dissenting 
voice  when  we  say,  that  whatever  be  the  doubts 
and  the  delusions  which  may  prevail  about  men 
of  another  aspect,  the  man  whose  habits  and 
pursuits  have  now  been  sketched  to  you,  stands 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  line  of  demarcation. 

We  are  far  from  saying,  that  a  man  of  such  a 
character  as  this  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
society.  We  merely  set  him  up  as  a  kind  of 
starting-post,  for  the  future  train  of  our  argu- 
ment. It  is  a  mighty  advantage,  in  every  dis- 
cussion, to  have  a  clear  and  undisputed  outset, 
— and  we  trust,  that,  if  thus  far  we  have  kept 
cordially  by  the  side  of  each  other,  we  shall  not 
cast  out  by  the  way,  in  the  progress  of  our  re- 
maining observations. 


28S  SERMON  Xlf. 

ir.  Let  us  now  proceed,  then,  to  detach  one 
offensive  feature  from  the  character  of  him, 
whom  we  have  thus  set  before  you,  as  a  com- 
pound of  many  abominations.  Let  us  leave 
entire  all  his  dishonesty,  and  all  his  devotedness 
to  the  pleasures  of  sense,  but  soften  and  trans- 
form his  heart  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  would 
recoil  from  the  perpetration  of  a  murder.  This 
is  a  different  portrait  from  the  one  which  we 
formerly  exhibited.  There  is  in  it  an  instinc- 
tive horror  at  an  act  of  violence,  which  did  not 
belong  to  the  other; — and  the  question  we  have 
now  to  put,  is,  Has  the  man  who  owns  this  im- 
proved representation,  become,  on  this  single 
difference,  a  spiritual  man  ?  We  answer  this 
question  by  another.  Is  the  difference  that  we 
have  now  assigned  to  him,  due  to  the  love  of 
God,  or  to  such  a  principle  of  loyal  subjection 
to  his  authority,  as  this  love  is  sure  to  engen- 
der? You  will  not  call  him  spiritual  from  the 
mere  existence  of  a  feeling  which  would  rise 
spontaneously  in  his  heart,  even  though  the 
Father  of  spirits  were  never  thought  of  We 
appeal  to  your  own  consciousness  of  what  pass- 
es within  you,  if  the  heart  do  not  experience 
the  movement  of  many  a  constitutional  feeling, 
altogether  unaccompanied  by  any  reference  of 
the  mind,  to  the  love,  or  to  the  character,  or 
even  to  the  existence  of  God.  Are  you  not 
quite  sensible,  that  though  the  idea  of  a  God 
lay  in   a  state  of  dormancy  for  hours,  and  for 


SERMON  XII.  289 

<iays  togfether,  many  of  the  relenlings  of  na- 
ture would,  in  the  meanwhile,  remain  with  you  ? 
For  the  preservation  and  the  order  of  society, 
God  has  been  kind  enough  to  implant  in  the 
bosom  of  man,  many  a  natural  predilection,  and 
many  a  natural  horror, — of  which  he  feels  the 
operation,  and  the  people  of  his  neighbour- 
hood enjoy  the  advantage,  at  the  very  time  that 
one  and  all  of  them,  unmindful  of  God,  are  walk- 
ing in  the  counsel  of  their  own  hearts,  and  after 
the  sight  of  their  own  eyes.  He  has  done  the 
same  thing  to  the  inferior  animals.  He  has 
endowed  them  with  a  principle  of  attachment 
to  their  offspring,  in  virtue  of  which,  they, 
generally  speaking,  would  recoil  from  the  mur- 
der of  their  young  with  as  determined  an  ab- 
horrence, as  you  would  do  from  the  murder  of 
a  fellow-creature.  You  would  not  surely  say 
of  the  irrational  instinct,  that  because  amiable, 
or  useful,  or  pleasing  to  contemplate,  there  is 
any  thing  spiritual  in  the  impulse  it  communi- 
cates. Then  do  not  offer  a  violence  both  to 
Scripture  and  philosophy,  by  confounding,  in  the 
mind  of  man,  principles  which  are  distinct  from 
each  other.  Do  not  say,  that  he  is  spiritual, 
merely  because  he  is  moving  in  obedience  to 
his  constitutional  tendencies.  Do  not  say,  that 
he  is  not  carnal,  while  all  that  he  has  done,  or 
abstained  from  doing,  may  be  done  or  abstained 
from,  though  he  lived  without  God  in  the  world. 
And  go  not  to  infer,  while  the  pleasures  of  sens^ 

37 


290  SERMON  XlL 

are  the  idols  of  his  every  affection — that  because 
he  would  shudder  to  purchase  them,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another's  blood,  he,  on  that  single  ac- 
count, may  be  looked  on  as  a  spii'itual  man,  and 
as  standing  on  the  right  side  of  the  line  of  de- 
marcation. 

III.  All  this  may  be  looked  upon,  as  too  in*- 
disputable  for  argument.  And  yet  it  is  the 
very  principle  which,  if  carried  to  its  fair  ex- 
tent, and  brought  faithfully  home  to  the  con- 
science, would  serve  to  convince  of  ungodhness, 
the  vast  majority  of  this  world's  generations. 
If  a  natural  recoil  from  murder,  may  be  expe- 
rienced by  the  bosom,  in  which  there  exists  no 
love  to  God, — why  may  not  this  natural  recoil 
be  carried  still  farther,  and  yet  the  love  of  God 
be  just  as  absent  from  the  bosom  as  before? 
There  are  other  dishonesties,  of  a  far  less  out- 
rageous character,  than  that  by  which  you 
would  commit  an  act  of  depredation ;  and  other 
cruelties  far  less  enormous,  than  that  by  which 
you  would  embrue  your  hand  in  another's  blood, 
— which  still  the  generality  of  men  would  re- 
volt from  constitutionally,  and  that  too,  without 
the  movement  of  any  affection  for  their  God,  or 
even  so  much  as  any  thought  of  him.  We  have 
only  to  conceive  the  softening  of  a  further 
U'ansforraation,  to  take  place  on  the  man,  with 
whom  we  set  out  at  the  beginning  of  our  argu- 
ment; and  he  may  thus  become;  like  the  man 


8ERM0N  XII.  291 

we  read  of  in  the  parable,  who  took  comfort  to 
himself  in  the  security,  that  he  had  goods  laid 
up  for  many  years,  and  at  the  same  time  is  not 
charged,  either  with  violence,  or  dishonesty  in 
the  acquirement  of  them.  He  is  charged  with 
nothing,  but  a  devoted  attachment  to  wealth ; 
and  to  the  pleasures  which  that  wealth  can  pur- 
chase. And  yet,  what  an  awful  reckoning  did 
he  come  under !  He  seems  to  have  just  been 
such  a  man,  as  we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  meet 
with  every  day  in  the  range  of  our  familiar  ac- 
quaintances,— enjoying  themselves  in  easy  and 
comfortable  abundance ;  but  at  an  obvious  and 
unquestionable  distance  from  any  thing  that 
can  be  called  atrocity  of  character.  There  is 
not  one  of  them,  perhaps,  who  would  not  recoil 
from  an  act  of  barbarity ;  and  w  ho  would  not 
be  moved  with  honest  indignation,  at  the  tale  of 
perfidy  or  of  violence.  They  live  in  a  placid 
course  of  luxury,  and  good  humour;  and  we  are 
far  from  charging  them  with  any  thing  which 
the  world  calls  monstrous, — when  we  say,  that 
the  Father  of  spirits  is  un minded,  and  unre- 
garded by  them,  and  that  the  good  things  of  the 
world  are  their  gods.  If  it  be  a  vain  super- 
fluity of  argument  to  prove,  that  a  man  may 
not  be  spiritual,  and  yet  be  endowed  with  such 
a  degree  of  natural  tenderness,  as  to  recoil  from 
the  perpetration  of  a  murder, — then  it  is  equally 
indisputable,  that  a  man  may  not  be  spiritual, 
though  endowed  with  such  a  degree  of  natural 


292  .SERMON  XIL 

tenderness,  as  to  recoil  from  many  lesser  acts  of 
cruelty,  or  injustice.  In  other  words,  he  may 
be  a  very  fair  every  day  character ;  and  if  it  be 
so  sure  a  principle,  that  a  man  may  not  be  a 
murderer,  and  yet  be  carnal,  then  let  one  and 
all  of  you  look  well  to  your  own  security;  for  it 
is  the  very  principle  which  might  be  employed, 
to  shake  the  thousands,  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
ordinary  men,  out  of  the  security  in  which  they 
have  entrenched  themselves. 

IV.  But  to  proceed  in  this  work  of  transfor- 
mation. Let  us  now  conceive  a  still  more  ex- 
quisite softening  of  affection  and  tenderness,  to 
be  thrown  over  the  whole  of  our  imaginary 
character.  We  thus  make  another  step,  and 
another  departure,  from  the  original  specimen. 
By  the  first  step,  the  mind  is  made  to  feel  a 
kind  of  revolting,  at  the  atrocity  of  a  murder ; 
and  the  character  ceases  to  be  monstrous.  By 
the  second,  the  mind  is  made  to  share  in  all 
the  common  antipathies  of  our  nature,  to 
what  is  cruel  and  unfeeling;  and  it  is  thus 
wrought  up  to  the  average  of  character  which 
obtains  in  society.  By  the  third  step,  the  mind 
is  endowed  with  the  warmer  and  more  delicate 
sympathies  of  our  nature,  and  thus  rises  to  a 
more  exalted  place  in  the  scale  of  character. 
It  becomes  positively  amiable.  You  look  to 
him,  who  owns  all  these  graceful  sensibilities, 
even  as  the  Saviour  looked  unto  the  young 
man  of  the  gospels,  and,  like  the  Saviour,  yon 


SERMON  XII.  295 

love  him.  Who  can,  in  fact,  refrain  from  doing 
homage  to  such  a  lovely  exhibition  of  all  that  is 
soothing  in  humanity  ?  and  whether  he  be  em- 
ployed in  mingling  his  tears,  and  his  charities, 
with  the  unfortunate,  or  in  shedding  a  gentle 
lustre  over  the  retirement  of  his  own  family, 
even  orthodoxy  herself,  stern  and  unrelenting 
as  she  is  conceived  to  be,  cannot  find  it  in  her 
heart  to  frown  upon  him.  But,  feeling  is  one 
thing,  and  truth  is  another;  and  when  the 
question  is  put.  Do  all  these  sensibilities,  heigh- 
tened and  adorned  as  they  are,  on  the  upper 
walks  of  society,  constitute  a  spiritual  man  ? — 
it  is  not  by  a  sigh,  or  an  aspiration  of  tender- 
ness, that  we  are  to  answer  it.  We  are  put  on 
a  cool  exercise  of  the  understanding;  and  we 
cannot  close  it  against  the  fact,  that  all  these 
feelings  may  exist  apart  from  the  love  of  God, 
and  apart  from  the  religious  principle, — that  the 
idea  of  a  God  may  be  expunged  from  the  heart 
of  man,  and  yet  that  heart  be  still  the  seat  of  the 
same  constitutional  impulses  as  ever, — that,  in  re- 
ference to  the  realities  of  the  unseen  and  spiritual 
world,  the  mind  may  be  an  entire  blank,  and 
there,  at  the  same  time,  be  room  in  it,  for  the 
play  of  kindly  and  benevolent  emotions.  We 
commit  these  truths  to  your  own  experience,  and 
if  carried  faithfully  to  the  conscience,  they  may 
chase  away  another  of  the  delusions  which  en- 
compass it.  There  is  no  feai'  of  me,  for  I  have 
a  feeling  heart,  is  a  plea  w  hich  they  put  a  de- 


294  SERMON  XII. 

eisive  end  to.  This  feeling  heart,  if  unaccom- 
panied by  any  sense  of  God,  is  no  better  evi- 
dence of  a  spiritual  man,  than  is  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.  We  are  far  from  refusing  it  the 
homage  of  our  tenderness.  We  feel  a  love  to 
it,  but  we  will  not  make  a  lie  about  it.  We 
can  make  no  more  of  it,  than  Scripture  and  ex- 
perience enable  us  to  do.  And,  if  it  be  true, 
that  a  man's  heart  may  be  the  habitual  seat  of 
kind  affections,  while  an  affection  for  God  is 
habitually  away  from  it, — if  it  be  true,  that  no 
man  can  be  destitute  of  this  affection,  and  at 
the  same  time  be  a  spiritual  man, — if  it  be  true, 
that  he  who  is  not  spiritual,  is  carnal,  and  that 
the  carnally-minded  cannot  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  God ; — then  the  necessity  lies  upon  us  : 
he  is  still  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death  ; 
and  if  he  refuse  the  arguments  and  invitations 
of  the  gospel,  calling  him  over  to  another  region 
than  that  which  he  now  occupies,  he  must  just 
be  numbered  among  those  more  beauteous 
wrecks  of  our  fallen  nature,  which  are  destined 
to  perish  and  be  forgotten. 

V.  But  let  us  go  still  farther.  Let  us  sup- 
pose the  heart  to  be  furnished,  not  merely  with 
the  finest  sensibilities  of  our  nature,  but  with  its 
most  upright  and  honourable  principles.  Let 
us  conceive  a  man  whose  pulse  beats  high  with 
the  pride  of  integrity ;  whose  every  word  carries 
security  along  with  it ;  -whose  faithfulness  in  the 
walks  of  business  has  stood  the  test  of  many 


SERMON  XII.  2dd 

fluctuations ;  who,  amid  all  the  varieties  of  his 
fortune,  has  nobly  sustained  the  glories  of  an 
untainted  character ;  and  whom  we  see  by  the 
salutations  of  the  market-place,  to  be  acknow- 
ledged and  revered  by  all,  as  the  most  respect- 
able of  the  citizens.  Now,  which  of  the  two 
great  regions  of  human  character  shall  we  make 
him  to  occupy  ?  This  question  depends  upon 
another.  May  all  this  manly  elevation  of  soul^ 
and  of  sentiment,  stand  disunited  in  the  same 
heart,  with  the  influence  of  the  authority  of 
God,  or  with  that  love  of  God  which  is  the 
keeping  of  his  commandments?  The  discerning 
eye  of  Hume  saw  that  it  could  ;  and  he  tells  us 
that  natural  honesty  of  temper  is  a  better  se- 
curity for  the  faithfulness  of  a  man's  doings, 
than  all  the  authority  of  religious  principle 
over  him.  We  deny  the  assertion  ;  but  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  principles  on  which  it 
proceeds,  is  indisputable.  There  is  a  principle 
of  honour,  apart  in  the  human  mind  altogether, 
from  any  reference  to  the  realities  of  a  spiritual 
world.  It  varies  in  the  intensity  of  its  opera- 
tion, with  different  individuals.  It  has  the 
chance  of  being  more  entire,  when  kept  aloof 
from  the  temptations  of  poverty ;  and  therefore 
it  is,  that  we  more  frequendy  meet  with  it  in  the 
upper  and  middling  classes  of  hfe.  And  we 
can  conceive  it  so  strong  in  its  original  influ- 
ence, or  so  grateful  to  the  possessor  from  the 
elevating  consciousness  which  goes  along  with 


296  SERMON  XII. 

it,  or  so  nourished  by  the  voice  of  an  applauding 
world,  as  to  throw  all  the  glories  of  a  romantic 
chivalry  over  the  character  of  him,  with  whom 
God  is  as  much  unihought  of,  as  he  is  unseeen. 
We  are  far  from  refusing  our  admiration.  But 
we  are  saying,  that  the  Being  who  brought  this 
noble  specimen  of  our  nature  into  existence; 
who  fitted  his  heart  for  all  its  high  and  generous 
emotions  ;  who  threw  a  theatre  around  him,  for 
the  display  and  exercise  of  his  fine  moral  ac- 
complishments ;  who  furnished  each  of  his  ad- 
mirers with  a  heart  to  appreciate  his  worth,  and 
a  voice  to  pour  into  his  ear  the  flattering  ex- 
pression of  it; — the  Being  whose  hand  upholds 
and  perpetuates  the  whole  of  this  illustrious  ex- 
hibition, may  all  the  while  be  forgotten,  and  un- 
noticed as  a  thing  of  no  consequence.  We  are 
merely  saying,  that  the  man  whose  heart  is  oc- 
cupied with  a  sentiment  of  honour,  and  is  at 
the  same  time  unoccupied  with  a  sense  of  Him, 
who  is  the  first  and  greatest  of  spiritual  beings, 
is  not  a  spiritual  man.  But,  if  not  spiritual,  we 
are  told  in  the  Bible,  that  there  are  only  two 
terms  in  the  alternative,  and  he  must  be  carnal. 
— And  the  God  whom  he  has  disregarded  in 
time,  will  find,  that  in  the  praises  and  enjoy- 
ments of  time,  he  has  gotten  all  his  reward,  and 
that  he  owes  him  no  recompense  in  eternity. 

Wc  appeal  to  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
some  years  ago,  on  the  subject  of  Africa,  as  a 
living  exemplification  of  the  whole  argument. 


SERMON  XII.  297 

"  Love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,"  says  the 
Bible  ;  and  this  precept,  coming  with  all  the 
force  of  its  religious  influence  upon  the  hearts  of 
men,  who  carry  their  respects  to  the  will  of  a  spi- 
ritual and  unseen  God,  have  urged  them  on,  and 
with  noble  effect,  to  the  abolition  of  the  dead- 
liest mischief  that  was  ever  let  loose  upon  the 
species.  And  whether  we  look  to  the  Quakers, 
who  originated  the  cause,  or  to  him  who  pio- 
neered the  cause,  or  to  him  who  plead  the  cause, 
or  to  him  who  has  impregnated  with  such  a 
moral  charm,  the  atmosphere  of  his  country, 
that  not  a  human  creature  can  breathe  of  its  air 
without  taking  in  the  generous  inspiration  of 
liberty  along  with  it, — we  cannot  fail  to  observe, 
that  one  and  all  of  them  speak  the  language,  and 
evince  the  tastes,  and  are  not  ashamed  to  own 
their  most  entire  and  decided  preference  for  the 
objects  of  spiritual  men.  There  is  an  evident 
sense  of  religious  duty,  which  gives  the  tone  of 
Christianity,  and  throws  the  aspect  of  sacredness 
over  the  whole  of  their  doings ;  and  the  un- 
baffled  perseverance  of  the  many  years  they  had 
to  struggle  with  difficulties,  and  to  spend  in  the 
weariness  of  ever  recurring  disappointments, 
bears  striking  proof  to  the  unquenchable  energy 
of  the  Christian  principle  within  them.  But 
who  can  deny  the  large  and  important  contri- 
butions which  came  in  upon  the  cause  from 
other  quarters  ?  We  hold  it  quite  consistent  with 
the   truth  of  human  nature,    to  aver,    that  in 

38 


298  SERMON  XII. 

this  enlightened  country,  other  principles  may 
have  lent  their  aid  to  the  cause,  and,  apart  from 
Christianity  altogether,  may  have  sent  a  com- 
manding influence  into  the  hearts  of  some  of  its 
ablest  and  most  efficient  supporters.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  presence  of  Christian  principle 
to  quell  the  impassioned  fervour  of  our  desires 
after  right  objects  ;  but  the  absence  of  Christian 
principle  does  not  necessarily  extinguish  this 
fervoui'.  When  we  look  back  to  the  animating 
ferment  of  the  British  public,  on  the  subject  of 
Africa,  v\e  will  ever  contend,  that  a  feeling  of 
obHgation  to  a  spiritual  being,  was  the  ingredi- 
ent which  set  it  agoing,  and  which  kept  it  a- 
going.  But  who  can  deny  the  existence  and 
the  powerful  operation  of  other  ingredients  ? 
An  instinctive  horror  at  cruelty,  is  a  sej)arate 
and  independent  attribute  of  the  heart,  and  suf- 
ficient of  itself  to  inspire  the  deepest  tones  of 
that  eloquence  which  sounded  in  Parliament, 
and  issued  from  the  press,  and  spread  an  infec- 
tion over  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  and 
mustered  around  the  cause,  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  our  rallying  population,  and 
gave  such  an  energy  to  the  public  voice,  that 
all  the  resisting  jealousies,  and  interests  of  the 
counti-y  were  completely  overborne : — and  hence 
the  interesting  spectacle,  of  carnal  and  spiritual 
men  lending  their  respective  energies  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  one  object,  and  securing,  by 
their  success,  a  higher  name  for  Britain  in  the 


SERMON  XII.  299 

world,  than  all  the  wisdom  of  her  counsels,  and 
all  the  pride  of  her  victories,  can  ever  achieve 
for  her. 

Were  it  our  only  aim  to  carry  the  acquies- 
cence of  the  understanding,  there  might  be   a 
danger  in  affirming,  and  urging,  and  illustrating 
to  excess,  the  position,  that  we  want  to  estab- 
lish among  you  ; — and  it  were  perhaps  better, 
to  Umit  ourselves  to  one    simple  dehvery  of 
the  argument.     But  our  aiui  is,  if  possible,  to  af- 
fect the  conscience,   and  to  accompUsh  this  ob- 
ject, not  with  one,  but  with  many  individuals. 
And  when  it  is  reflected,  that  one  development 
of  the  principle  may  come  home  more  forcibly 
to  some  man's  experience  than  another,  we  must 
beg  to  be    excused  for    one    recurrence   more 
to  a  topic,  so  pregnant  of  consequence  to  your 
everlasting  interests.     There  is  a  sadly  meagre 
and  frivolous  conception  of  human  sinfulness, 
that  is  prevalent  amongst  you,— and  it  goes  to 
foster  this  delusion,  that  when  we  look  abroad 
on  the  face  of  society,  we  must  be  struck  with  the 
diversity  of  character,  which  obtains  among  the 
individuals  who  compose  it.     Some  there,  are 
who,  in  the  estimation  of  the  world,  are  exe- 
crable for  their  crimes,  but  others  who,  in  the 
same  estimation,  are  illustrious  for  their  virtues. 
In  that  general  mass  of  corruption,  to  which  wc 
would  reduce  our  unfortunate  species,  is  there, 
it  may  be  asked,  no  solitary  example  of  what  iS 
pure,  and  honourable,  and  lovely?  Do  wc^nc^ 


300  SERMON  Xll. 

ver  meet  with  the  charity  which  mehs  at  suf- 
fering ;  with  the  honesty  which  disdains,  and  is 
proudly  superior  to  falsehood ;  with  the  active 
beneficence  which  gives  to  others  its  time  and 
its  labour ;  with  the  modesty  which  shrinks  from 
notice,  and  gives  all  its  sweetness  to  retire- 
ment ;  with  the  gentleness  which  breathes  peace 
to  all,  and  throws  a  beautiful  lustre  over  the 
wallis  of  domestic  society  ?  If  we  find  these 
virtues  to  be  sometimes  exhibited,  is  not  this 
an  argument  against  the  doctrine  of  such  an 
entire,  and  unmitigated  depravity,  as  we  have 
been  contending  for  ?  Will  it  not  serve  to  re- 
deem humanity  from  that  sweeping  indiscrimi- 
nate charge  of  corruption,  which  is  so  often  ad- 
vanced against  it,  in  all  the  pride  and  intoler- 
ance of  orthodoxy  ?  What  better  evidence  can 
be  given  of  our  love  to  God,  than  our  adherence 
to  his  law  ?  And  are  not  the  virtues  which  we 
have  just  now  specified  part  of  that  law?  Are 
not  they  the  very  virtues  which  his  authority  re- 
quires of  us,  and  which  imparts  such  a  charm  to 
the  morality  of  the  New  Testament  ? 

Now,  it  carries  us  at  once  to  the  bottom  of 
this  delusion,  to  observe,  that  though  the  reli- 
gious principle  can  never  exist,  without  the 
amiable  and  virtuous  conduct  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament ;  yet,  that  conduct  may,  in  some  mea- 
sure, be  maintained,  without  the  religious  prin- 
ciple. A  man  may  be  led  to  precisely  the  same 
conduct,  on  the  impulse  of  many  different  prin* 


SERMON  XII.  301 

ciples.     He  may  be  gentle,  because  it  is  a  pre- 
scription of  the    divine  law  ; — or,  he    may  be 
gentle,  because  he  is  naturally  of  a  peaceful,  or 
indolent   constitution; — or,  he  may  be  gentle, 
because  he  sees  it  to  be  an  amiable  graceful- 
ness, with  which  he  wishes  to  adorn  his  own 
character ; — or,  he  may  be  gentle,  because  it  is 
the  ready  way  of  perpetuating  the  friendship  of 
those  around  him ; — or,  he  may  be  gentle,  be- 
cause taught  to  observe  it,  as  a  part  of  courtly 
and  fashionable  deportment, — and  what  was  im- 
planted by  education,  may  come  in  time  to  be 
confirmed,  by  habit   and  experience.     Now,  it 
is  only  under  the  first  of  these  principles,  that 
there  is  any  religion  in  gentleness.     The  other 
principles  may  produce  all  the  outward  appear- 
ance of  this  virtue,  and  much  even  of  its  inward 
complacency,  and  yet  be  as  distinct  from  the 
religious  principle,  as  they  are  distinct  from  one 
another.     To  infer  the  strength  of  the  religious 
principle,  from  the  taste  of  the  human  mind,  Tor 
what  is  graceful  and  lovely  in  character,  would 
just  be  as  preposterous,  as  to  infer  it  from  the 
admiration   of  a  fine   picture,   or  a  cultivated 
landscape.     They  are  not  to  be   confounded. 
They  occupy  a  different  place,  even  in  the  clas- 
sifications of  philosophy.     We  do  not  deny,  that 
the  admiration  of  what  is  fine  in  character,  is  a 
principle  of  a  higher  order,  than  the  admiration 
of  what  is  fine  in  external  scenery.     So  is  a  taste 
for  what  is  beautiful  in  the  prospect  before  us, 


sot  SEKMON  XII. 

a  principle  of  a  higher  order,  than  a  taste  for 
the  sensualities  of  the  epicure.  But  they,  one 
and  all  of  them,  stand  at  a  wide  distance  from 
the  religious  principle  :  and  whether  it  be  taste, 
or  temper,  or  the  love  of  popularity,  or  the  high 
impulse  of  honourable  feeling,  or  even  the  love 
of  truth,  and  a  natural  principle  of  integrity, — ■ 
the  virtues  in  question  may  be  so  unconnected 
with  religion,  as  to  flourish  in  the  world,  and  be 
rewarded  by  its  admiration,  even  though  God 
were  expunged  from  the  belief,  and  immortality 
from  the  prospects,  of  the  species. 

The  virtues,   then,  to  which  the  enemies  of 
our  doctrine  make  such  a  confident  appeal,  may 
have  no  force  whatever  in  the  argument, — be- 
cause, properly  speaking,  they  may  not  be  ex- 
emplifications of  the  religious  principle.     If  you 
do  what  is  virtuous,  because  God  tells  you  so, 
then,  and    then  only,  do  you  give  us  a  fair  ex- 
ample of  the  authority  of  religion   over   your 
practice.     But,  if  you  do  it  merely  because  it  is 
lovely,  because  it  is  honourable,  or  because  it 
is  a  fine  moral  accomplishment, — we  will   not 
refuse  the  testimony  of  our  admiration,  but  we 
cannot  submit  to  such  an  error,  either  of  con- 
ception, or  of  language,  as  to  allow  that  there  is 
any  religion  in  all  this.     These  quahties  have 
our  utmost  friendship;  and  we  give  the  most 
substantial  evidence  of  this,  when,  instead  of 
leaving  them  to  their  own  solitary  claims  upon 
the  human  heart,  we  call  in  the  aid  of  religion, 


SERMON  XII.  3(fe 

and  support  them  by  its  authority  :  "  Whatso- 
ever things  are  pure,  or  lovely,  or  honest,  or 
of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  if  there 
be  any  praise,  think  of  these  things."  But  we 
will  not  admit,  that  the  mere  circumstance  of 
their  being  lovely,  supercedes  the  authority  of 
religion ;  nor  can  we  endure  such  an  injustice 
to  the  Author  of  all  that  is  graceful,  both  in 
nature  and  morality,  as  that  the  native  charms 
of  virtue  should  usurp,  in  our  admiration,  the 
place  of  God — of  him  who  gave  to  virtue  all  its 
charms,  and  formed  the  heart  of  man  to  love 
and  to  admire  them. 

Be  not  deceived,  then,  into  a  rejection  of  that 
doctrine  which  forms  the  great  basis  of  a  sin- 
ner's religion,  by  the  specimens  of  moral  ex- 
cellence which  are  to  be  met  with  in  society; 
or  by  the  praise  which  your  own  virtues  extoH 
from  an  applauding  neighbourhood.  Virtue 
may  exist,  and  in  such  a  degree  too,  as  to  con- 
stitute it  a  lovely  object  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  but  if  there  be  in  it  no  reference  of 
the  mind  to  the  will  of  God,  there  is  no  reli- 
gion in  it.  Such  virtue  as  this  has  its  reward 
in  its  natural  consequences,  in  the  admiration  of 
others,  or  in  the  delights  of  conscious  satisfac- 
tion. But  we  cannot  see  why  God  will  reward 
it  in  the  capacity  of  your  master,  when  his  ser- 
vice was  not  the  principle  of  it, 'and  you  wer^ 
therefore  not  acting  at  all  the  part  of  a  servant  to 
him, — nor  do  we  see  how  he  can  reward  it  in  the 


304  SERMON  XII. 

capacity  of  your  judge,  when,  in  the  whole  pro- 
cess of  virtuous  feehng,  and  virtuous  sentiment, 
and  virtuous  conduct,  you  carried  in  your  heart 
no  reference  whatever,  for  a  single  moment,  to 
him  as  to  your  lawgiver.  We  do  not  deny  that 
there  are  many  such  examples  of  virtue  in  the 
world ;  but  then  we  insist  upon  it,  that  they 
cannot  be  put  down  to  the  account  of  religion. 
They  often  may,  and  actually  do,  exist  in  a  state 
of  entire  separation  from  the  religious  prnciple; 
and  in  that  case,  they  go  no  farther  than  to 
prove  that  your  taste  is  unvitiated,  that  your 
temper  is  amiable,  that  your  social  dispositions 
promote  the  peace  and  welfare  of  society  ;  and 
they  will  be  rewarded  with  its  approbation. 
Now,  it  is  well  that  you  act  your  part  as  a  mem- 
ber of  society;  and  religion,  by  making  this, 
one  of  its  injunctions,  gives  us  the  very  best  se- 
curity, that  wherever  its  influence  prevails,  it 
will  be  done  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  But 
the  point  we  labour- to  impress  is,  that  a  man 
may  be  what  we  all  understand  by  a  good 
member  of  society,  without  the  authority  of  God 
as  his  legislator,  being  either  recognised  or 
acted  upon.  We  do  not  say  that  his  error 
lies  in  being  a  good  member  of  society.-  This, 
though  only  a  circumstance  at  present,  is  a 
very  fortunate  one.'  The  error  lies  in  his  hav- 
ing discarded  the  authority  of  God,  or  ra- 
ther, in  his  never  having  admitted  the  influ- 
ence of  that   authority  over  his   heart,   or   his- 


SERMON  XII.  305 

practice.  We  want  to  guard  him  against  the 
delusion,  that  the  principle  which  he  has,  can 
ever  be  accepted  as  a  substitute  for  the  prin- 
ciple he  has  not, — or,  that  the  very  highest 
sense  of  duty,  which  his  situation  as  a  member 
of  society,  impresses  upon  his  feelings,  will  ever 
be  received  as  an  atonement  for  wanting  that 
sense  of  duty  to  God,  which  he  ought  to  feel 
in  the  far  more  exalted  capacity  of  his  servant, 
and  candidate  for  his  approbation.  We  stand 
on  the  high  ground,  that  he  is  the  subject  of 
the  Almighty, — nor  shall  we  shrink  from  declar- 
ing the  whole  extent  of  the  principle.  Let  his 
path  in  society  be  ever  so  illustrious,  by  the 
virtues  which  adorn  it ;  let  every  word,  and 
every  performance,  be  as  honourable  as  a  proud 
sense  of  integrity  can  make  it ;  let  the  saluta- 
tions of  the  market-place  mark  him  out  as  the 
most  respectable  of  the  citizens ;  and  the  grati- 
tude of  a  thousand  families  ring  the  praises  of 
his  beneficence  to  the  world  : — If  the  actor  in 
this  splendid  exhibition,  carry  in  his  mind  no  re- 
ference to  the  authority  of  God,  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  pronounce  him  unworthy, — nor  shall 
all  the  execrations  of  generous,  but  mistaken 
principle,  deter  us  from  putting  forth  our  hand 
to  strip  him  of  his  honours.  What !  is  the 
world  to  gaze  in  admiration  on  this  fine  specta- 
cle of  virtue  ;  and  are  we  to  be  told  that  the 
Being,  who  gave  such  falculties  to  one  of  his 
children,  and  provides  the  threatre  for  their  ex- 

59 


306  SERMON  XII. 

ercise,-— that  the  Being,  who  called  this  moral 
scene  into  existence,  and  gave  it  all  its  beauties, 
— that  he  is  to  be  forgotten,  and  neglected  as 
of  no  consequence  ?  Shall  we  give  a  deceitful 
lustre  to  the  virtues  of  him  who  is  unmindful  of 
his  God, — and  with  all  the  grandeur  of  eternity 
before  us,  can  we  turn  to  admire  those  short- 
lived exertions,  which  only  shed  a  fleeting  bril- 
liancy over  a  paltry  and  perishable  scene  ?  It 
is  true  that  he  who  is  counted  faithful  in  little 
will  also  be  counted  faithful  in  much;  and 
when  God  is  the  principle  of  this  fidelity,  the 
very  humblest  wishes  of  benevolence  will  be  re- 
warded. But  its  most  splendid  exertions  with- 
out this  principle,  have  no  inheritance  in  hea- 
ven. Human  praise,  and  human  eloquence,  may 
acknowledge  it ;  but  the  Discerner  of  the  heart 
never  will.  The  heart  may  be  the  seat  of 
every  amiable  feeling,  and  every  claim  which 
comes  to  it  in  the  shape  of  human  misery  may 
find  a  welcome  ;  but  if  the  love  of  God  be  not 
there,  it  is  not  right  with  God, — and  he  who 
owns  it,  will  die  in  his  sins  :  he  is  in  a  state  of 
impenitency. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  those  virtues  which 
exist  in  a  state  of  independence  on  the  religious 
principle, — we  must  be  forced  to  recur  to  the 
doctrine  of  human  depravity,  in  all  its  original 
aggravation.  Man  is  corrupt,  and  the  estrange- 
ment of  his  heart  from  God,  is  the  decisive  evi- 
dence of  it.     Every  day  of  his  life  the  first  com- 


SERMON  XIL  307 

mandment  of  the  law  is  trampled  on, — and  it  is 
that  commandment  on  which  the  authority  ol' 
the  whole  is  suspended.  His  best  exertions  are 
unsound  in  their  very  principle;  and  as  the  love 
of  God  reigns  not  within  him,  all  that  has  usuFp- 
ed  the  name  of  virtue,  and  deceived  us  by  its 
semblance,  must  be  a  mockery  and  a  delusion. 

We  shall  conclude  with  three  observations, 
First,  there  is  nothing  more  justly  fitted  to  revolt 
the  best  feelings  of  the  human  heart  against  or- 
thodoxy, than  when  any  thing  is  said  in  its  de- 
fence, which  tends  to  mar  the  credit  or  the 
lustre  of  a  moral  accomplishment,  so  lovely  as 
benevolence.  Let  it  be  observed,  then,  that  sub- 
stantial benevolence  is  rarely,  if  ever,  to  be  found 
apart  from  piety, — and  that  piety  is  but  the  hy- 
pocrisy of  a  name,  when  benevolence,  in  all  the 
unweariedness  of  its  well  doing,  does  not  go 
along  with  it.  Benevolence  may  make  some 
brilliant  exhibitions  of  herself,  without  the  insti- 
gation of  the  religious  principle.  But  in  these 
cases  you  seldom  have  the  touchstone  of  a  pain- 
ful, sacrifice, — and  you  never  have  a  spiritual 
aim,  after  the  good  of  our  imperishable  nature. 
It  is  easy  to  indulge  a  constitutional  feeling.  It 
is  easy  to  make  a  pecuniary  surrender.  It  is 
easy  to  move  gently  along,  amid  the  visits  and 
the  attentions  of  kindness,  when  every  eye  smiles 
welcome,  and  the  soft  whispers  of  gratitude  mi- 
nister their  pleasing  reward,  and  flatter  you  into 
the  delusion  that  you  are  an  angel  of  mercy. 


SOS  SERMON  XII. 

But  give  us  the  benevolence  of  him,  M^ho  can 
ply  his  faithful  task  in  the  face  of  every  discour^ 
agement, — who  can  labour  in  scenes  where  there 
is  no  brilliancy  whatever  to  reward  him, — whose 
kihdness  is  that  sturdy  and  abiding  principle 
which  can  weather  all  the  murmurs  of  ingrati- 
tude, and  all  the  provocations  of  dishonesty, — 
who  can  find  his  way  through  poverty's  putrid 
lanes,  and  depravity's  most  nauseous  and  disgust- 
ing receptacles, — who  can  maintain  the  uniform 
and  placid  temper,  within  the  secrecy  of  his  own 
home,  and  amid  the  irksome  annoyances  of  his 
own  family, — who  can  endure  hardships,  as  a 
good  soldier  of  Christ  Jesus, — whose  humanity 
acts  with  as  much  vigour  amid  the  reproach,  and 
the  calumny,  and  the  contradiction  of  sinners, 
as  when  soothed  and  softened  by  the  poetic 
accompaniment  of  weeping  orphans,  and  in- 
teresting cottages, — and,  above  all,  who  la- 
bours to  convert  sinners,  to  subdue  their  resis- 
tance of  the  gospel,  and  to  spiritualize  them 
into  a  meetness  for  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints.  We  maintain,  that  no  such  benevo- 
lence, realizing  all  these  features,  exists,  with- 
out a  deeply  seated  principle  of  piety  lying  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  Walk  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, 
and,  away  from  Christianity,  and  beyond  the 
circle  of  its  influences,  there  is  positively  no  such 
benevolence  to  be  found.  The  patience,  the 
meekness,  the  difficulties  of  such  a  benevolence, 
cannot  be  sustained  without  the  influence  of  a 


SERMON  XII.  309 

heavenly  principle, — and  when  all  that  decks  the 
theatre  of  this  world  is  withdrawn,  what  else  is 
there  but  the  magnificence  of  eternity,  to  pour  a 
glory  over  its  path,  and  to  minister  encourage- 
ment in  the  midst  of  labours  unnoticed  by  hu- 
min  eye,  and  unrewarded  by  human  testimony  ? 
Even  the  most  splendid  enterprises  of  benevo- 
lence,  which    the   world   ever   witnessed,  can 
be  traced  to  the  operation  of  what  the  world 
laughs  at,  as  a  quakerish  andmethodistical  piety. 
And  we  appeal  to  the  abolition  of  the   slave 
trade,  and  the  still  nobler  abolition  of  vice  and 
ignorance,  which  is  now  accomplishing  amongst 
the  uncivilized  countries  of  the  earth,   for  the 
proof,  that  in  good  will  to  men,  as  well  as  glory 
to  God,  they  are  the  men  of  piety  who  bear 
away  the  palm  of  superiority  and  of  triumph. 

But,  Secondly,  If  all  Scripture  and  all  obser- 
vation, are  on  the  side  of  our  text,  should  not 
this  be  turned  by  each  of  us  into  a  personal  con- 
cern ?  Should  it  not  be  taken  up,  and  pursued, 
as  a  topic  in  which  we  all  have  a  deep  indivi- 
dual interest  ?  Should  it  not  have  a  more  per- 
manent hold  of  us,  than  a  mere  amusing  gene- 
ral speculation  .^  Are  not  prudence,  and  anti- 
cipation, and  a  sense  of  danger,  all  linked  with 
the  conclusion  we  have  attempted  to  press  upon 
you  ?  In  one  w^ord,  if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  a 
moral  government  on  the  part  of  God,— if  there 
be  such  a  thing  as  the  authority  of  a  high  and 
divine  legislature, — if  there  be  such  a  thing  as  a 


310  SERMON  XII. 

throne  in  heaven,  and  a  judge  sitting  on  that 
throne, — should  not  the  question,  What  shall  I 
do  to  be  saved  ?  come  with  all  its  big  and  deeply 
felt  significancy  into  the  heart  and  conscience 
of  every  one  of  us  ?  We  know  that  there  is  a 
very  loose  and  general  security  upon  this  subject, 
— that  the  question,  if  it  ever  be  suggested  at  all, 
is  disposed  of  in  an  easy,  indolent,  and  superficial 
way,  by  some  such  presumption,  as  that  God  is 
merciful,  and  that  should  be  enough  to  pacify  us. 
But  why  recur  to  any  presumption,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  the  question  to  a  settlement, 
when,  upon  this  very  topic,  we  are  favoured  witl^ 
an  authoritative  message  from  God  ? — when  an 
actual  embassy  has  come  from  him,  and  that  on 
the  express  errand  of  reconciliation  ? — when  the 
records  of  this  embassy  have  been  collected  in- 
to a  volume,  within  the  reach  of  all  who  will 
stretch  forth  their  hand  to  it  ?— when  the  obvi- 
ous expedient  of  consulting  this  record  is  before 
us  ?  And  surely,  if  what  God  says  of  himself,  is 
of  higher  signification  than  what  we  think  him  to 
be,  and  if  he  tell  us  not  merely  that  he  is  merci- 
ful, but  that  there  is  a  particular  way  in  which  he 
chooses  to  be  so  ; — nothing  remains  for  us  but 
submissively  to  learn  that  way,  and  obediently 
to  go  along  with  it.     But  he  actually  tells  us, 
that  there  is  no  other  name  given  under  heaven, 
Avhereby  man  can  be  saved,  but  the  name  of  Je- 
sus. He  tells  us,  that  it  is  only  in  Christ,  that  he 
has    reconciled   the   world   unto  himself     He 


SERMON  XII.  311 

tells  us,  that  our  alone  redemption  is  in  him 
whom  God  has  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation 
through  faith  in  his  blood,— that  he  might  be 
just,  while  the  justifier  of  him  who  believeth  in 
Jesus  ;— and  surely,  we  must  either  give  up  the 
certainty  of  the  record,  or  count  these  to  be 
faithful  sayings,  and  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tion. 

Lastly,  The  question  may  occur,  after  having 
established  the  fact  of  human  corruption,  and 
recommended  a  simple  acquiescence  in  the  Sa- 
viour for  forgiveness.  What  becomes  of  the  cor- 
ruption after  this  ?  Must  we  just  be  doing  with 
it  as  an  obstinate  peculiarity  of  our  nature,  bear- 
ing down  all  our  powers  of  resistance,  and  mak- 
ing every  struggle  with  it  hopeless  and  un- 
availing? For  the  answer  to  this  question,  we 
commit  you,  as  before,  to  the  record.  He  who 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  is  a  new  creature.  Sin  has  no 
longer  dominion  over  him.  That  very  want 
which  constituted  the  main  violence  of  the  dis- 
ease, is  made  up  to  him.  He  wanted  the  love 
of  God  ;  and  this  love  is  shed  abroad  in  his  heart 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  wanted  the  love  of 
his  neighbour;  but  God  enters  into  a  covenant 
with  him,  by  which  he  puts  this  law  in  his  heart, 
and  writes  it  in  his  mind.  The  spirit  is  given 
to  them  who  ask  it  in  faith,  and  the  habitual 
prayer,  of.  Support  me  in  the  performance  o{ 
this  duty, — or,  Carry  me  in  safety  through  this 
trial  of  my  heart  and  of  my  principles. — is  heard 


312  SERMON  XII. 

with  acceptance,  and  answered  with  power.  The 
power  of  Christ  is  made  to  rest  on  those  who 
look  to  him  ;  and  they  will  find  to  be  their  expe- 
rience what  Paul  found  to  be  his, — they  will  be 
able  to  do  all  things  through  Christ  strengthen- 
ing them.  Now,  the  question  we  have  to  put 
is, — Tell  us,  if  all  this  sound  strange,  and  mys- 
terious, and  foreign,  to  the  general  style  of  your 
conceptions  ?  Then  be  alarmed  for  your  safe- 
ty. The  things  you  thus  profess  to  be  strange 
to  you,  are  not  the  peculiar  notions  of  one  man, 
or  the  still  more  peculiar  phraseology  of  another. 
They  are  the  very  notions  and  the  very  phraseo- 
logy, of  the  Bible, — and  you,  by  your  antipathy 
or  disregard  to  them,  bring  yourselves  under 
precisely  the  same  reckoning  with  God,  that 
you  do  with  a  distant  acquaintance,  whom  you 
insult  by  returning  his  letter  unopened,  or  des- 
pise, by  suffering  it  to  lie  beside  you  unread  and 
unattended  to.  In  this  indelible  word  of  God, 
you  will  meet  with  the  free  offer  of  forgiveness 
for  the  past,  and  a  provision  laid  before  you, 
by  which  all  who  make  use  of  it,  are  carried 
forward  to  amendment,  and  progressive  virtue, 
for  the  future.  They  are  open  to  all,  and  at 
the  taking  of  all;  but  in  proportion  to  the  frank- 
ness, and  freeness,  and  universality,  of  the  offer, 
will  be  the  severity  of  that  awful  threatening  to 
them  who  despise  it.  How  shall  they  escape,  if 
they  neglect  so  great  a  salvation  ? 


SERMON  XIII. 

THE  NATURAL  ENMITY  OF  THE  MIND  AGAINST  GOD. 


Romans  viii.  7. 
"  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God." 

"VtTE  should  be  blinding  ourselves  against  the 
light  of  experience,  did  we  deny  of  manj 
of  our  acquaintances,  that  they  have  either 
brought  into  the  world,  or  have  acquired,  by 
a  natural  process  of  education,  such  a  gentle- 
ness of  temper,  such  a  docility,  such  a  taste 
for  the  amiable,  and  the  kind,  such  an  ho- 
nourable sense  of  integrity,  such  a  feeling 
sympathy  for  the  wants  and  misfortunes  of 
others,  that  it  would  not  be  easy,  and  what  is 
more,  we  may  venture  to  say,  from  the  example 
of  our  Saviour,  who,  when  he  Igoked  to  the 
young  man,  loved  him,  that  it  would  positively 
not  be  right,  to  withhold  from  them  our  admi- 
ration and  our  tenderness.  Still  it  were  a  vio- 
lation of  all  scriptural  propriety  in  language,  to 
say  of  them  that  they  were  not  carnal,  or  not 

40 


314  SERMON  Xlll. 

carnally  minded.  All,  by  the  very  signification 
of  the  term,  are  carnal,  whose  minds  either  re- 
tain their  original  constitution,  or  have  under- 
gone no  other  transforming  process  than  a  mere 
process  of  natural  education.  Some  minds  are, 
in  these  circumstances,  more  agreeable  to  look 
npon  than  others,  just  as  some  faces  are  more 
agreeable  than  others,  to  the  eye.  Each  mind 
has  its  own  peculiar  character,  just  as  each  face 
has  its  own  set  of  features,  and  its  own  com- 
plexion. But,  as  all  the  varieties  in  the  latter, 
from  exquisite  beauty  to  most  revolting  defor- 
mity, do  not  exclude  irom  any,  the  one  and.uni- 
versal  attribute  of  decay, — so  neither  may  all  the 
constitutional  varieties  in  the  former,  from  the 
most  sordid  to  the  most  naturally  upright  and 
amiable,  exclude  the  possession  of  some  one  and 
universal  attribute  ;  and  it  may  be  the  very  at- 
tribute assigned  to  nature  in  the  text — even 
hostility  against  God. 

Let  us  first  offer  some  remarks  on  the  affir- 
mation of  the  text,  that  the  carnal  mind  is  en- 
mity against  God^ — emd  then  shortly  consider, 
how  it  is  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  suits  its 
applications  to  this  great  moral  disease. 

I.  It  appears  a  very  presumptuous  attempt, 
on  the  part  of  a  human  interpreter,  when  the 
object  which  he  proposes,  and  which  he  erects 
into  a  separate  head  of  discussion,  is  to  prove 
the  assertion  of  the  text.  Should  not  the  very 
circumstance  of  its  being  the  assertion  of  the 


SERMON  XIII.  315 

text,  be  proof  enough  for  you  ?  On  what  better 
foundation  can  your  belief  be  laid  than  on  the 
testimony  of  God?  and  when  we  come  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  thing  testified,  is  not 
the  bare  fact  of  God  being  the  witness  of  it, 
sufficient  ground  for  its  credibility  to  rest  upon  ? 
Shall  man's  reasoning  carry  a  greater  authority 
along  with  it,  than  God's  declaration  ?  Is  your 
faith  to  depend  on  the  success  or  the  failure  of 
his  argument  ?  Whether  he  succeed  in  establish- 
ing the  truth  of  the  assertion  or  not,  upoai  in- 
dependent reasonings  of  his  own, — remember 
that  by  reading  it  out  in  his  text,  he  has  already 
come  forward  with  an  argument  more  conclu- 
sive than  any  which  his  ingenuity  can  devise. 
And  yet,  how  often  do  your  convictions  lie  sus- 
pended on  the  ability  of  the  preacher,  and  on  the 
soundness  of  his  demonstrations  ?.  You  refuse  to 
believe  truth,  plainly  set  before  you  in  the  Bible, 
because  the  minister  has  failed  in  making  out 
his  point.  Now,  the  truth  of  the  point  in  ques- 
tiotf  may  have  already  received  its  decisive  set- 
tlement, from  the  text  delivered  in  your  hear- 
ing. We  may  try,  and  take  our  own  way  of 
bringing  the  truth  of  your  enmity  against  God, 
close  and  home  upon  your  consciences.  But, 
if  there  be  truth  in  all  the  sayings  of  the  Bible, 
enough  has  been  already  said,  to  undermine  the 
security  of  your  fancied  attainments.  It  is  said, 
that  in  our  nature  there  is  a  rooted  and  an  cm- 
bodied  character  of  hostihty  to  our  Maker.   This 


316  SERMON  XIII. 

should  make  the  wisest  and  most  sufficient 
among  you  feel  that  you  are  poor  indeed, — and 
let  other  expedients,  to  press  home  the  melan- 
choly truth  fail,  or  be  effectual  as  they  may,  this 
is  surely  enough  to  convince  and  to  alarm  you. 
But,  though  we  cannot  add  to  the  truth  ol 
God,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  what  the  Apostle 
calls  making  that  truth  manifest  to  your  con- 
sciences. Your  own  observation  may  attest  the 
very  same  truth,  which  God  announces  to  you 
in  his  word.  And  if  it  be  a  truth,  respecting  tlie 
state  of  your  own  heart,  this  agreement  be- 
tween what  God  says  you  are,  and  what  you 
find  yourselves  to  be,  is  often  most  powerfully 
instrumental,  in  reclaiming  men  to  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  truth,  and  bringing  their  heart 
under  its  influence.  This  is  the  very  argument 
which  compelled  the  faith  of  the  woman  of  Sa- 
maria. "  Come  and  see  the  man  which  told  me 
all  the  things  that  ever  I  did ;  is  not  this  the 
Christ?"  It  is  the  very  alignment,  by  which 
many  an  unbeliever  was  convinced  in  the  Apps- 
tie's  days.  The  secrets  of  his  heart  were  ma<ie 
manifest,  and  so  falling  down  on  his  face,  he 
worshipped  God,  and  reported  that  God  was  in 
them,  of  a  truth.  We  cannot  make  the  assertion 
in  the  text  stronger  than  God  has  made  it  alrea- 
dy,— ^but  we  may  be  able  to  guide  your  obser- 
vations to  that  which  is  the  subject  of  it — even 
to  your  own  mind.  We  may  lead  you  to  attend 
more  closely,  and  to  view  more  distinctly,  the 


SERMON  XIII.  317 

state  of  your  minds,  than  you  have  ever  yet  done. 
If  your  finding  of  the  matter  shall  agree  with 
God's  saying  about  it,  it  may  make  the  truth  of 
the  text  tell  with  energy  upon  your  consciences ; 
— and  it  were  well  for  one  ajid  all  of  us,  that  we 
obtained  a  more  overwhelming  sense  of  our  ne- 
cessities than  we  have  ever  yet  gotten  ;  that  we 
saw  ourselves  in  those  true  colours  of  deformity 
which  really  belong  to  us ;  that  the  inveteracy 
of  our  disease  as  sinners,  were  more  known  and 
more  felt  by  us ;  that  we  could  lift  up  the  mantle 
of  delusion,  which  the  accomplishments  of  na- 
ture throw  over  the  carnal  mind,  and  by  which 
they  spread  a  most  bewildering  gloss  over  all  the 
rebelliousness  and  ingratitude  of  the  inner  man. 
Could  we  but  make  you  feel  your  need  and  your 
helplessness  as  sinners, — could  we  chase  away 
from  you  the  pride  and  the  security  of  your 
fancied  attainments, — could  we  lead  you  to 
mourn  and  be  in  heaviness,  under  a  sense  of 
your  alienations  and  idolatries,  and  risings  of 
hatred  against  the  God,  who  created,  and  who 
sustains  you ; — then  might  we  look  for  the  over- 
tures of  the  gospel  being  more  thankfully  list- 
ened to,  more  cordially  embraced,  more  re- 
joiced in  as  the  alone  suitable  remedy  to  the 
wants  and  the  sorenesses  of  your  fallen  nature, 
— then  might  we  look  for  the  attitude  of  self- 
dependence  being  broken  down,  and  for  all 
trust,  and  all  glorying,  being  transferred  from 


SIS  SERMON  XIII. 

ourselves,  and  laid  upon  Jesus  Christ,  and  him 
crucified. 

It  is  no  proof  of  love  to  God  that  we  do 
many  things,  and  that  too  with  the  willing  con- 
sent of  the  mind,  the  performance  of  which  is 
agreeable  to  his  law.  If  the  same  thing  might 
be  done  upon  either  of  two  principles,  then  the 
doing  of  it  may  only  prove  the  existence  of  one 
of  these  principles,  while  the  other  has  no  pre- 
sence or  operation  in  the  mind  whatever.  I  do 
not  steal,  and  the  reason  of  it  may  be  either  that 
I  love  God,  and  so  keep  his  commandments, 
or  it  may  be  that  I  have  honourable  feelings , 
and  would  spurn  at  the  disgracefulness  of  such 
an  action.  This  is  only  one  example,  but  the 
bare  statement  of  it  serves  for  a  thousand  more. 
It  lets  us  in  at  once  to  the  decisive  fact,  that 
there  are  many  principles  of  action  applauded, 
and  held  in  reverence,  and  most  useful  to  so- 
ciety, and  withal  urging  us  to  the  performance 
of  what,  in  the  matter  of  it,  is  agreeable  to  the 
law  of  God,  which  may  have  a  practical  as- 
cendancy over  a  man  whose  heart  is  alienated 
from  the  love  of  God.  Propose  the  question 
to  yourself.  Would  not  I  do  this  good  thing,  or 
abstain  from  this  evil  thing,  though  God  had 
no  will  in  the  matter  ?  If  you  would,  then  put 
not  down  what  is  altogether  due  to  other  prin- 
ciples to  the  principle  of  love  to  God,  or  a  de- 
sire of  pleasing  him.     The  principle  upon  which 


SERMON  Xlir.  319 

you  have  acted  may  be  respectable,  and  ho- 
nourable, and  amiable.  We  are  not  disputing 
all  this.  We  are  only  saying,  that  it  is  not  the 
love  of  God ;  and  should  we  hear  any  one  of 
you  assert,  that  I  have  nothing  to  reproach 
myself  with,  and  that  I  give  every  body  dieir 
own,  and  that  I  possess  a  fair  character  in  so- 
ciety, and  have  done  nothing  to  forfeit  it,  and 
that  I  have  my  share  of  generosity,  and  honour, 
and  tenderness,  and  civility,  our  only  reply  is, 
that  this  may  be  very  true.  You  may  have  a 
very  large  share  of  these,  and  of  other  estimable 
principles,  but  along  with  the  possession  of  these 
many  things,  you  may  lack  one  thing,  and  that 
one  thing  may  be  the  love  of  God.  An  enlight- 
ened discerner  of  the  heart  may  look  into  you, 
and  say,  with  our  Saviour  in  the  text,  "  I  know 
you  that  you  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you." 
It  is  no  test  whatever  of  your  love  to  God, 
that  you  tolerate  him,  when  he  calls  upon  you, 
to  do  the  things  which  your  natural  principles 
incline  you  to  do,  and  which  you  would  have 
done  at  any  rate.  But  when  he  claims  that 
place  in  your  affections  which  you  give  to  many 
of  the  objects  of  the  world,— when  he  puts  in 
for  that  share  of  your  heart  which  you  give  to 
wealth,  or  pleasure,  or  reputation  among  men. 
— then  is  not  God  a  weariness  ?  and  does  not 
the  inner  man  feel  impatience  and  dislike  at 
these  grievous  exactions?  and  when  the  will  of 
God  thwarts  the  natural  current  of  your  tastes 


^20  SERMON  XIII. 

and  enjoyments,  is  not  God,  at  the  moment  of 
urging  that  will,  with  all  the  natural  authority 
which  belongs  to  him,  a  positive  offence  to 
you? 

How  would  you  like  the  visit  of  a  man  whose 
presence  broke  up  some  arrangement  that  you 
had  set  your  heart  upon ;  or  marred  the  enjoy- 
ment of  some  favourite  scheme  that  you  were 
going  to  put  into  execution  ?  Would  not  you 
hate  the  visit  ?  and  if  it  were  often  repeated, — 
if  the  disappointments  you  received  from  this 
cause  were  frequent  and  perpetual, — if  you  saw 
a  systematic  design  of  thwarting  you  by  these 
galling  and  numerous  interruptions,  would  not 
you  also  cordially  hate  the  visitor,  and  give  the 
most  substantial  evidence  of  your  hatred,  too, 
by  shunning  him,  or  shutting  him  out?  Now, 
is  not  God  just  such  a  visitor  ?  O  how  many 
favourite  schemes  of  enjoyment  would  the 
thought  of  him,  and  of  his  will,  if  faithfully  ad- 
mitted to  the  inner  chambers  of  the  mind,  put  to 
flight!  How  many  fond  calculations  be  given 
up  about  the  world,  the  love  of  which  is  oppo- 
site to  the  love  of  the  Father.  How  many  trif- 
ling amusements  behoved  to  be  painfully  sur- 
rendered, if  a  sense  of  God's  will  were  to  tell 
upon  the  conscience  with  all  the  energy  that  is 
due  to  it.  How  many  darling  habits  abandoned, 
if  the  whole  man  were  brought  under  the< do- 
minion of  this  imperious  visitor;— how  many 
affections  torn  away  from  the  objects  on  which 


SERMON  Xll.  321 

they  are  now  fastened,  if  his  presence  were  at 
all  times  attended  to,  and  he  was  regarded  with 
that  affection  which  he  at  all  times  demands  of 
us ! 

This  may  explain  a  fact,  which  we  fear  must 
come  near  to  the  conscience  of  many  a  respect- 
able man,  and  that  is,  the  recoil  which  he  has  of- 
ten experienced,  as  if  from  some  object  of  se- 
vere and  unconquerable  aversion,  when  the 
preacher  urges  upon  his  thoughts  some  scrip- 
tural representations  either  of  the  will  or  the 
character  of  God.  Or  take  this  fact  in  another 
way,  and  in  which  it  presents  itself,  if  not  more 
strikingly,  at  least  more  habitually;  and  that  is, 
the  undeniable  circumstaiice  of  God  being  shut 
out  of  his  thoughts  for  the  great  majority  of  his 
time,  and  him  feeling  the  same  kind  of  ease,  at 
the  exclusion,  as  when  he  shuts  the  door  on  the 
most  unwelcome  of  his  visitors.  The  reason  is, 
that  the  inner  man,  busied  with  other  objects, 
would  positively  be  offended  at  the  intrusion  of 
the  thought  of  God.  It  is  because,  to  admit 
him,  with  all  his  high  claims  and  spiritual  re- 
quirements into  your  mind,  would  be  to  disturb 
you  in  the  enjoyment  of  objects  which  are  bet- 
ter loved  and  more  sought  after  than  he.  It  is 
because  your  heart  is  occupied  with  idols,  that 
God  is  shut  out  of  it.  It  is  because  your  heart 
is  after  another  treasure.  It  is  because  your 
heart  is  set   upon  other  things.     Whether  it  !)«< 

41 


322  SERMON  XIII. 

wealth,  or  amusement,  or  distinction,  or  the  ease 
and  the  pleasures  of  life,   we    pretend    not  to 
know  ;  but  there  is  a  something,  which  is  your 
god,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  great  God  of  hea- 
ven and   earth.     The   Being  who   is  upholding 
you  all  the  time,  and  in  virtue  of  whose  preserv- 
ing hand,  you  live,  and  think,  and   enjoy,  is  all 
the    while   unminded  and  unregarded  by  you. 
You  look  upon  him  as  an  interruption.     It  is  of 
no  consequence  to  the  argument  what  the  occu- 
pation of  your  heart  be,  if  it  is  such  an  occupa- 
tion as  excludes  God  from  it.     It  may  be  what 
the  world  calls  a  vicious  occupation, — the  pur- 
suits of  a  dishonest,  or  the  debaucheries  of  a 
profligate  life,— and,  in  this  case,  the  world  has 
no  objection  to  stigmatise  you  with  enmity  against 
God.     Or  it   may  be  what   the  world  calls  an 
innocent  occupation — amusement  to  make  you 
happy,  work  to  earn  a  subsistence,  business  to  es- 
tablish a  hberal  provision  for  your  families.  But 
your  heart  may  be  so  given  to  it,  that  God  is  rob- 
bed of  his  portion  of  your  heart  altogether.  Or  it 
may  be  what  the  world  calls  an  honourable  oc- 
cupation,— the  pursuit  of  eminence  in  the  walks 
of  science  or  of  patriotism  ;  and  still  there  may 
be  an  exclusion,  or  a  hatred,  of  the  God  who 
puts  in  for  all  things  being  done  to    his  glory. 
Or  it  may  be  what  the  world  calls  an  elegant  oc- 
cupation,— even  that  of  a  mind  enamoured  with 
the  tastefulness  of  literature ;  but  it  may  be  so 
enamoured  with  this,  that  the  God  who  created 


SERMON  XIII.  ^2a 

your  mind,  and  all  the  tastes  which  are  within 
it,  and  all  the  objects  which  are  without  it,  and 
which    minister  to   its  most  exquisite  pratiftca- 
tion, — this  God,  we  say,  may  be  turned  away  from 
with   a  feeling  of  the  most  nauseous  antipathy, 
and  you  may  give  the  most  substantial  evidence 
of  your  hatred  to  him,  by  ridding  your  thoughts 
of  him  altogether.  Or,  lastly,  it  may  be  what  the 
world  calls  a  virtuous  occupation,  even  that  of  a 
mind  bustling  with  the  full  play  of  its  energies, 
among  enterprises  of  charity  and  plans  of  public 
good.   Yet  even  here,  wonderful  asyou  may  think 
it,  there  may  be  a  total  exclusion  and  forgetful- 
ness  of  God ;  and,  while  the  mind  is  filled  and 
gratified  with  a  rejoicing  sense   of  its  activity 
and  its  usefulness,  it  may  be  merely  delighting 
itself  with   a   constitutional   gratification, — and 
God  the  author  of  that  constitution,   be  never 
thought  of, — or,  if  thought  of  according  to  the 
holiness  of  his  attributes,  and  the  nature  of  that 
friendship,  opposite   to   the   friendship   of  the 
world,  which  he  demands  of  us,  and  the  kind 
of  employment   which  forms  the   reward    and 
the  happiness  of  his  saints  in  eternity,  even  the 
praise     and  the    contemplation  of  himself, — if 
thought  of,  we   say,  according  to  this  his  real 
character,  and  these  the  real  requirements  that 
he  lays  upon   us, — even  the  man   to   whom   the 
word  yields  the  homage  of  virtue  may  think  of  his 
God  with  feelings  of  offensiveness  and  disgust. 


324  SERMON  XIII. 

There  is  nothing  monstrous  in  all  this,  to  the 
men  of  our  world,  seeing  that  they  have  each 
a  share  in  that  deep  and  lurking  ungodliness, 
which  has  both  so  vitiated  our  nature,  and  so 
blinded  all  who  inherit  this  nature,  against  a 
sense  of  its  enormity.  But  only  conceive  how 
it  must  be  thought  of,  and  how  the  contempla- 
tion of  it  must  be  felt,  among  those  who  can 
look  on  character,  with  a  spiritual  and  intelli- 
gent estimation.  How  must  the  pure  eye  of  an 
angel  be  moved  at  such  a  spectacle  of  worth- 
lessness, — and  surely,  in  the  records  of  heaven, 
this  great  moral  peculiarity  of  our  outcast  race 
must  stand  engraven  as  that,  which  of  all 
others,  has  the  character  of  guilt  most  nakedly 
and  most  essentially  belonging  to  it.  That  the 
bosom  of  a  thing  formed  should  feel  cold  or 
indifferent  to  him  who  formed  it, — that  not  a 
thought  or  an  image  should  be  so  unwelcome 
to  man,  as  that  of  his  Maker, — that  the  crea- 
ture should  thus  turn  round  on  its  Creator,  and 
eye  disgust  upon  him, — that  its  every  breath 
should  be  envenomed  with  hatred  against  him 
who  inspired  it, — or,  if  it  be  not  hatred,  but 
only  unconcern,  or  disinclination,  that  even 
this  should  be  the  real  disposition  of  a  fashion- 
ed and  sustained  being,  towards  the  hand  of 
his  Preserver, — there  is  a  perversity  here, 
which  time  may  palliate  for  a  season,  but 
which,  under  a  universal  reign  of  justice,  must 


SERMON  XIII.  S2o 

at  length  be  brought  out  to  its  adequate  con- 
demnation. And  on  that  day,  when  the  earth 
is  to  be  burnt  up,  and  all  its  flatteries  shall 
have  subsided,  will  it  be  seen  of  many  a  heart 
that  rejoiced  in  the  applause  and  friendship  of 
this  world,  that,  alienated  from  the  love  of 
God,  it  was  indeed  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and 
in  the  bond  of  iniquity. 

Nor  does  it  palliate  the  representation  which 
we  have  now  given,  that  a  God,  in  the  fancied 
array  of  poetic  loveliness — that  a  God  of  mere 
natural  perfection,  and  without  one  other  moral 
attribute  than  the  single  attribute  of  indulgence 
— that  a  God,  divested  of  all  which  can  make 
him  repulsive  to  sinners,  and,  for  this  purpose, 
shorn  of  all  those  glories,  which  truth  and  au- 
thority, and  holiness,  throw  around  his  charac- 
ter— that  such  a  God  should  be  idolized  at  times 
by  many  a  sentimentalist.  It  would  form  no 
deduction  from  our  enmity  against  the  true 
God,  that  we  give  an  occasional  hour  to  the 
worship  of  a  graven  image,  made  with  our  own 
hands — and  it  is  just  of  as  little  significancy  to 
the  argument,  that  we  feel  an  occasional  glow 
of  affection  or  of  reverence,  towards  a  fictitious 
being  of  our  own  imagination.  If  there  be  truth 
in  the  Bible,  it  is  there  where  God  has  made 
an  authentic  exhibition  of  his  nature, — and  if 
God  in  Christ  be  an  offence  to  you — if  you  dis- 
like this  way  of  approach — if  you  shrink  from 
the  contemplation  of  that  Being,  who  bids  you 


3  26  J^ERMON  Xllf. 

sanctify  him  in  your  hearts,  and  who  claims  such 
a  preference  in  your  regard,  as  shall  dispossess 
your  affections  for  all  that  is  earthly — if  you 
have  no  relish  for  the  intercourse  of  prayer,  and 
of  spiritual  communion  with  such  a  God — if 
your  memory  neither  love  to  recal  him,  nor  your 
fancy  to  dwell  upon  him,  nor  he  be  the  being 
with  whom  you  greatly  delight  yourself,  the  ha- 
bitation to  which  you  resort  continually, — then 
be  assured,  that  amid  the  painted  insignificancy 
of  all  your  other  accomplishments,  your  heart 
is  not  right  with  God ;  and  he  who  is  the  Father 
of  your  existence,  and  of  all  that  gladdens  it, 
may  still  be  to  you  a  loathing  and  an  abomina- 
tion. 

Neither  does  it  palliate  the  representation, 
which  we  have  now  offered,  that  we  do  many 
things  with  the  direct  object  of  doing  that  which 
is  pleasing  to  God.  [t  is  true,  there  cannot  be  love 
where  there  is  no  desire  to  please ;  but  it  is  as 
true,  that  there  may  be  a  desire  to  please  where 
there  is  no  love.     Why,  I  may  both  hate  and 
fear  the  man,  whom  f  may  find  it  very  con- 
venient to  please;  and  to  secure  whose  favour, 
I  may  practise  a  thousand  arts  of  accommoda- 
tion and  compliance.    I  may  comply  by  action — 
but  instead  of  complying  with  my  will,  I  may 
abominate  the  necessity  which  constrains  me. 
I  may  be  subject  to  his  pleasure  in  my  person, 
and  in  my  performances — but  you  would  not 
say,  while  hatred  rankled  within  me,  that  I  was 


SERMON  XIII.  327 

subject  to  him  with  my  mind.  A  sovereign  may 
overrule  the  humours  of  arebelHous  province,  by 
the  presence  of  his  resistless  military — but  you 
would  not  say  that  there  was  any  loyalty  in  thife 
forced  subordination.  He  may  compel  the  bon- 
dage of  their  actual  services — but  you  would 
not  say,  that  it  was  in  this  part  of  his  domi- 
nions, where  the  principle  of  subjection  to  him 
existed  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  We  have 
already  affirmed,  that  though  our  will  went  along 
with  a  number  of  performances,  which  in  the 
matter  of  them  were  agreeable  to  God's  law — 
this  was  far  from  an  unfailing  indication  of  love 
to  God  ;  for  there  may  be  a  thousand  other  con- 
stitutional principles,  the  residence  and  opera- 
tion of  which  in  the  heart  may  give  rise  to  these 
performances,  while  there  was  an  utter  distaste, 
and  hostility  on  our  part  to  God.  They  may  be 
done,  not  because  God  wills  the  doing,  but  be- 
cause the  doing  falls  in  with  our  humour,  or  our 
interest,  or  our  vanity,  or  our  instinctive  grati- 
fication. But  now  we  are  prepared  to  go  far- 
ther, and  say,  that  they  may  be  done,  because 
God  wills  the  doing,  and  yet  there  may  be  an 
utter  want  of  subjection  in  the  mind,  to  the  law 
of  God.  The  terror  of  his  power  may  constrain 
you  to  many  acts  of  obedience,  even  as  the  call. 
"  Flee  from  the  coming  wrath,-'  told  on  the  dis- 
ciples of  John  the  Baptist.  But  obedience  may 
be  rendered  to  all  the  requirements  of  this  pro- 
phet. Thieves,  and  swearers,  and  sabbath-break- 


328  SERMON  XII. 

ers,  maj, under  the  fearofthe  coming  vengeance, 
give   up   their  respective   enormities,  and  jet 
their  minds    be  altogether  carnal,  and  utterly 
destitute  of  subjection  to  the  law  of  God.  There 
may  be  the  obedience  of  the  hand,  while  there  is 
the  gall  of  bitterness  in  the  heart,  at  the  necessi- 
ty which  constrains  it.  It  may  not  be  the  consent- 
ing of  the  mind,  to  the  law  of  him  whom  you 
delight  to  please,  and  to  honour.     Now,  this  is 
the  service  for  which  it  is  the  aim  of  Christiani- 
ty to  prepare  you.     It  is  by  putting  that  law, 
which  was  graven  on  tables  of  stone,  upon  the 
fables  of  your  heart,  that  it  enables  you  to  yield 
that  obedience,  which    is   acceptable  to   God. 
He  is  grieved  at  the  reluctancy  of  your  services. 
No   performances  can   satisfy  him,  while  your 
heart  remains  in  shut  and  shielded  alienation 
against   him.     What   he  wants,    is  to  gain  the 
friendship  and  the  confidence  of  his  creatures ; 
and  he  feels  all  the  concern  of  a  wounded  and 
mortified  father,  when  he  knocks  at  the  door  of 
vour  heart,  and    finds  its  affections  to  be  away 
from  him.     He  condescends  to  plead  the  matter, 
and  with  the  tenderness  of  a  disappointed  father, 
does  he  say,   "  Wherein  have  I  wearied  you,  O 
children  of  Israel,  testify  against  me  ?"  You  may 
fear  him ;  you  may  heap  sacrifices  upon  his  al- 
tar; you  may  bring  the  outer  man  to  something 
like  a  slavish  obedience,    at  his  bidding, — but 
till  your  heart  be  subdued,   by  that  great  pro- 
cess, which  all   who  are  his   spiritual  subject?^ 


SERMON  Xlfl.  S29 

must  undergo,  you  are  carnal,  and  you  do  not 
love  him.  Your  obedience  is  like  a  body  with- 
out a  soul.  The  very  principle  which  gives  it 
all  its  value,  is  wanting.  It  is  this  which  turns 
the  whole  to  bitterness.  It  is  this,  which,  with 
all  the  bustling  activity  of  your  services,  keeps 
you  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  It  is  this  which 
mars  every  religious  performance,  and  imparts 
the  character  of  rebelliousness  to  every  one  item, 
in  the  list  of  your  plausible  and  ostentatious  du- 
ties. There  is  not  one  of  them  which  is  not  ac- 
companied with  an  act  of  disobedience,  and  that 
too,  to  the  first  and  greatest  commandment,  by 
which  we  are  called  upon  to  love  the  Lord 
wdtli  all  our  heart,  strength,  and  soul.  Though 
the  hand  should  be  subject, — though  the  mourh 
should  be  subject, — though  all  the  organs  of  the 
outer  man  should  be  subject;  yet  it  availcth 
nothing,  if  the  will  of  the  mind  is  not  subject. 
I  could  sell  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor. 
I  could  compel  my  hand  to  sign  an  order  to 
that  effect, — and  I  could  keep  my  hand  from  re- 
versing that  order  till  it  was  executed.  But  all 
this  I  may  do,  says  Paul,  and  yet  have  nothings 
because  I  have  not  charity.  It  is  not  the  act  of 
well  doing  to  your  neighbour,  but  a  principle 
of  love  to  your  neighbour,  on  which  God  stamps 
the  testimony  of  his  approbation.  In  like  man- 
ner, it  is  not  the  act  of  well  doing  to  God,  but 
the  principle  of  love  to  God,  which  he  values; — 
and  if  this  be  withheld  from  him,  you  are  cai'- 

42 


330  SERMON  XIII. 

nal ;  and  with  all  your  painful  and  multiplied 
attempts  at  obedience,  your  mind  is  not  subject 
to  the  law  of  God. 

We  shall  conclude,  at  present,  with  two  short 
reflections. 

First,  If  any  of  you  are  convinced  of  the  just- 
ness of  the  representations  which  we  have  now 
given,  you  will  perceive,  that  your  guilt  in  the 
sight  of  God,  may  be  of  a  far  deeper  and  more 
alarming  kind,  than  men  are  generally  aware  of. 
And  such  a  view  of  the  matter  may  be  quite  in- 
tolerable to  him  who  nauseates  the  peculiarities  of 
the  gospel, — to  him  who  has  a  contempt  for  the 
foolishness  of  that  preachings  of  which  the  great 
burden  is  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified, — to 
him,  in  a  word,  whom  the  true  description  of 
our  moral  disease,  must  terrify  or  offend, — see- 
ing that  he  carries  a  distaste  in  his  heart  toward 
the  alone  remedy,  by  which  the  disease  can  be 
met  and  extirpated. 

But  secondly,  There  is  another  class  of  people, 
whom  such  a  view  of  the  actual  state  of  human 
nature  ought  to  tranquillize,  by  bringing  their 
minds  out  of  perplexity,  into  a  state  of  firm  and 
confident  decision.  There  are  often  in  a  con- 
gregation, a  set  of  hearers  not  yet  shut  up  into 
the  faith,  but  approaching  towards  it, — with  a 
growing  taste  for  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, but  without  a  full  and  a  final  acquiescence 
in  it, — with  an  opening  and  an  enlarging  sense  of 
the  importance  of  the  gospel,  but  still  halting  be- 


SERMON  XIIl.  331 

tvveen  two  opinions  respecting  it ;  who,  in  parti- 
cular, are  not  sure  wiiere  their  sole  dependancc 
for  salvation  should  be  placed,  whether  singly 
upon  their  own  perform  an  ces,  or  singly  upon  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  or  jointly  upon  both. 
Now,  we  trust  that  the  lesson  of  our  text  may 
have  the  effect  with  some,  of  bringing  this  un- 
settled account  more  speedily  to  its  termination. 
You  may  have  hitherto,  perhaps,  been  under  the 
impression,  that  the  condition  of  man  ^\  as  not 
just  so  bad  as  to  require  a  Saviour,  who  must 
undertake  the  whole  of  his  cure,  and  bring 
about  the  whole  of  his  salvation.  You  have 
attempted  to  share  with  the  Saviour  in  the  mat- 
ter of  your  redemption.  Instead  of  looking 
upon  it  with  the  eye  of  the  Apostle,  as  be- 
ing all  of  grace,  or  all  of  works,  you  have,  in 
some  way  or  other,  attempted  a  compromise 
between  them  ;  and  this  has  the  undoubted  ef- 
fect of  keeping  you  at  a  distance  from  Christ. 
You  have  not  felt  your  entire  need  of  him,  and 
therefore  you  have  not  leaned  in  close  and  con- 
stant dependence  upon  him.  But  let  the  torch 
of  a  spiritual  lavr  be  lifted  over  your  characters, 
and  through  the  guise  of  its  external  decencies 
reveal  to  you  the  mountain  of  iniquity  w  ithin ; 
let  t^he  deformity  of  the  heart  be  made  known, 
and  you  become  sensible  of  the  fruitlessness  of 
€very  endeavour,  so  long  as  the  consent  of  a 
willing  cordiality  is  withheld  from  the  ])erson 
and  authority  of  God ;  let  the  uttcj-  i)owcrlcss- 


332  SERMON  XIII. 

ness  of  all  your  doings,  be  contrasted  with  the 
perversity  of  your  stubborn  and  unmanageable 
desires,  and  the  case  is  seen  in  all  its  help- 
lessness ;- — ^you  become  desperate  of  salvation  in 
one  w^ay,  and  you  are  led  to  look  for  it  in  an- 
other way.  The  question,  whether  salvation  is 
of  grace  or  of  works,  receives  its  most  decisive 
settlement ; — when  thus  driven  away  from  one 
term  of  the  ahernative,  you  are  compelled,  as 
your  only  resource,  to  the  other  term.  You  feel 
that  nothing  else  will  do  for  your  acceptance 
wdth  God,  but  your  acceptance  of  the  offered 
Saviour,  You  stand  at  the  foot  of  the  cross, — 
you  make  an  absolute  surrender  of  yourself  to 
the  terms  of  the  gospel. 

And  we  know  not  a  more  blissful  or  a  more 
memorable  event,  in  tlie  history  of  the  human 
soul,  than,  when  convinced  that  there  is  no  other 
righteousness  than  in  the  merits,  and  no  other 
sanctification  than  in  the  grace  of  the  Saviour,  it 
henceforth  glories  only  in  his  cross;  and  now, 
that  every  other  expedient  of  reformation  has 
been  tried,  and  failed  of  its  accomphshment,  it 
takes  to  the  remaining  one  of  crying  mightily  to 
God,  and  pressing,  at  a  throne  of  grace,  the  sup- 
plication of  the  Psalmist,  "  Create  a  clean  heart, 
and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me." 

One  thing  is  certain  ;  you  are  welcome,  at  this 
moment,  to  lay  hold  of  the  righteousness  of 
God,  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  you  are  welcome,  at  diis 
moment,  to  themse  of  his  prevailing  name,  'm 


SERMON  XIII.  3.3*3 

your  prayers  to  the  Father;  you  are  welcome,  at 
this  moment,  to  the  plea  of  his  meritorious  obe- 
dience, and  of  his  atoning  death ;  and  you  are 
welcome,  at. this  moment,  to  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit,  given  unto  all  who  believe,  whereby  the 
enmity  of  their  carnal  minds  will  be  done 
away, — God  will  no  longer  be  regarded  with 
antipathy  and  disgust, — he  will  appear  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  reconciled  Father, — 
he  will  pour  upon  you  the  spirit  of  adoption, — 
you  will  walk  before  him  without  fear, — and 
those  bonds  being  loosed,  wherewith  you  were 
formerly  held,  you  will  yield  to  him  the  willing 
obedience  of  those  whose  hearts  are  enlarged, 
and  who  run,  with  delight,  in  the  way  of  his 
commandments. 


SERMON  XIV. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO  DISSOLVE  THE 
ENMITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  HEART  AGAINST  GOD. 


Ethes.  II.  16. 
"  Having  slain  the  enmity  thereby." 

n.  We  shall  now  consider  how  it  is  that  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  suits  its  application  to 
this  great  moral  disease. 

The  necessity  of  some  singular  expedient,  for 
restoring  the  love  of  God  to  the  alienated  heart 
of  man,  will  appear  from  the  utter  impossibility 
of  bringing  this  about  by  any  direct  application 
of  authority  whatever.  For,  do  you  think  that 
the  delivery  of  the  law  of  love,  in  his  hearing, 
as  a  positive  and  indispensable  enactment  com- 
ing forth  from  the  legislature  of  heaven,  will  do 
it  ?  You  may  as  well  pass  a  law,  making  it  im- 
perative upon  him  to  delight  in  pain,  and  to 
feel  comfort  on  a  bed  of  torture  ?  Or,  do  you 
think,  that  you  will  ever  give  a  practical  esta- 
blishment to  the  law  of  love,  by  surrounding  it 
with  accumulated  penalties.^  This  may  irritate, 


SERMON  XIV.  335 

or  it  may  terrify,— but  for  the  purpose  of  beget- 
ting any  thing  like  attachment,  one  may  as  well 
think  of  lashing  another  into  tender  regard  for 
him.  Or,  do  you  think,  that  the  terrors  of  the 
coming  vengeance  will  ever  incline  a  human 
being  to  love  the  God  who  threatens  him? 
Powerful  as  these  terrors  are,  in  persuading  man 
to  turn  from  the  evil  of  his  ways, — they  most 
assuredly  do  not  form  the  artillery  by  which 
the  heart  of  man  can  be  carried.  They  draw 
not  forth  a  single  affection,  but  the  affection  of 
fear.  They  never  can  charm  the  human  bo- 
som into  a  feeling  of  attachment  to  God.  And 
it  goes  to  prove  the  necessity  of  some  singular 
expedient,  for  restoring  man  to  fellowship  with 
his  Maker ;  that  the  only  obedience  on  which  this 
fellowship  can  be  perpetuated,  is  an  obedience 
which  no  threatenings  can  force, — to  which  no 
warnings  of  displeasure  can  reclaim, — which  all 
the  solenm  proclamations  of  law  and  justice  can- 
not carry, — and  all  the  terrors  and  severities  of 
a  sovereignty  resting  on  power,  as  its  only  foun- 
dation, can  never  subdue.  The  utterance  H)( 
the  words.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God, 
or  perish  everlastingly,  can  no  more  open  the 
shut  and  alienated  heart  of  man,  than  it  can 
open  a  gate  of  iron.  Multiply  these  arguments 
of  terror  as  you  may, — arm  them  with  tenfold 
energy,  and  make  them  to  fall  in  thunder  on  the 
sinner's  ears, — tell  him  of  the  God  of  judg- 
ment, and  manifest  to  him  the  frown  of  his  an- 


336  SERMON  XIV. 

gry  countenance, — lay  before  him  the  grim 
aspect  of  his  impending  death,  and  spread  a 
deeper  mantle  of  despair  over  the  vast  field  of 
that  eternity  which  is  on  the  other  side  of  it ; — 
You  may  disquiet  him,  and  right  that  he  should 
be  so, — you  may  prevail  on  him  to  give  up  many 
evil  doings,  and  right  that  the  whole  urgency 
of  the  coming  wrath  should  be  employed  to 
make  him  give  them  up  immediately, — you  may 
set  him  a  trembling  at  the  power  of  God,  and 
better  this  than  spending  his  guilty  career,  in 
thoughtlessness  and  unconcern,  about  the  great 
Lawgiver  ; — but  where,  in  the  midst  of  all  this, 
shall  we  find  obedience  to  the  very  first  and 
greatest  commandment  of  the  law  ?  Has  this 
obedience  been  yet  so  much  as  entered  on  ?  Has 
love  to  God  so  much  as  reached  the  infancy  of 
its  existence,  in  that  heart  which  is  now  begin- 
ning to  be  agitated  by  its  terrors  ?  Amid  all  the 
bitterness  of  remorse,  and  all  the  fearful  looking 
for  of  judgment,  and  all  the  restless  anxieties 
of  conscious  guilt,  and  anticipated  vengeance, 
teU  us,  if  a  single  particle  of  tenderness  towards 
God,  has  any  place  in  this  restless  and  despair- 
ing bosom  ?  Tell  us,  if  it  act  as  an  element  at 
all,  in  this  wild  war  of  turbulence  and  disorder  r 
Or,  has  it  yet  begun  to  dawn  upon  the  mind, 
and  spread  its  salutary  and  composing  charm 
over  that  dark  scene  of  conflict,  under  which 
many  a  sinner  has  to  sustain  the  burden  of  the 
wearisome  nights,  that  are  appointed  to  him? 


SERMON  XIV.  337 

You  may  seek  for  love  to  God  throughout  a]l 
the  chambers  of  his  heart,  and  seek  in  vain. 
The  man  may  be  acting  such  reformations  as 
he  is  driven  to,  and  may  be  clothing  himself 
in  such  visible  decencies,  as  he  feels  himself 
compelled  to  put  on,  and  may  be  labouring 
away  at  the  drudgery  of  such  observances  as 
he  thinks  will  give  him  relief  from  the  cor- 
rosions of  that  undying  worm,  which  never 
ceases  to  goad  him  with  its  reproaches  ;  but  as 
to  the  love  of  God,  there  is  as  grim  and  determin- 
ed an  exclusion  of  this  principle  as  ever, — that 
avenue  to  his  heart,  has  never  been  unlocked, 
through  which  it  might  be  made  to  find  its  way, 
— every  former  argument,  so  far  from  having 
dissolved  the  barrier,  has  only  served  to  rivet 
and  to  make  it  more  unmoveable.  And  the  dif- 
ficulty still  lies  upon  us, — how  are  we  to  deposit 
in  the  heart  of  man,  the  only  right  principle  of 
obedience  to  God, — and  to  lead  him  onward  in 
the  single  way  of  a  pure,  and  spiritual,  and  sub- 
stantial repentance  ? 

This,  then,  is  a  case  of  difficulty,  and,  in  the 
Bible,  God  is  said  to  have  lavished  all  the  riches 
of  his  unsearchable  wisdom  on  the  business  of 
managing  it.  No  wonder  that  to  his  angels  it 
appeared  a  mystery,  and  that  they  desired  to 
look  into  it.  It  appears  a  matter  of  direct  and 
obvious  facility  to  intimidate  man, — and  to  bring 
his  body  into  a  forced  subordination  to  all  the 
requirements.     But  the  great  matter  was,  hon 

4S 


338  SERMON  XIV. 

to  attach  man, — how  to  work  in  him  a  liking  to 
God,  and  a  relish  for  his  character ;— or,  in  other 
words,  how  to  communicate  to  human  obedience, 
that  principle,  without  which,  it  is  no  obedience 
at  all, — to  make  him  serve  God,  because  he  lov^d 
him ;  and  to  run  in  the  way  of  all  his  command- 
ments, because  this  was  the  thing  in  which  he 
greatly  delighted  himself.  To  lay  upon  us  the 
demand  of  satisfaction  for  his  violated  law,  could 
not  do  it.  To  press  home  the  claims  of  justice 
upon  any  sense  of  authority  within  us,  could  not 
do  it.  To  bring  forward,  in  threatening  array, 
the  terrors  of  his  judgment,  and  of  his  power 
against  us,  could  not  do  it.  To  unveil  tte 
glories  of  that  throne  where  he  sitteth  in  equity, 
and  manifest  to  his  guilty  creatures  the  awful 
inflexibilities  of  his  truth  and  righteousness, 
could  not  do  it.  To  look  out  from  the  cloud  of 
vengeance,  and  trouble  our  dai'kened  souls  as  he 
did  those  of  the  Egyptians  of  old,  with  the  as- 
pect of  a  menacing  Deity,  couM  not  do  it.  To 
spread  the  field  of  an  undone  eternity  before 
us,  and  tell  us  of  those  dreary  abodes  where 
each  criminal  hath  his  bed  in  hell,  and  the  cen^ 
turies  of  despair  which  pass  over  him  are  not 
counted,  because  there  no  seasons  roll,  and  the 
unhappy  victims  of  the  tribulation,  and  tlfC 
wrath,  and  the  anguish,  know,  that  for  the 
mighty  burden  of  the  sufferings  which  weigh 
upon  them,  there  is  no  end,  and  no  mitigation ; 
this  prospect  appalling  as  it  is,  and  coming  home 


SERMON  XIV.  339 

upon  the  belief  with  all  the  characters  of  the 
most  immutable  certainty,  could  not  do  it.    The 
affections  of  the  inner  man  remain  as  unmoved 
as  ever,  under  the  successive  and  repeated  in- 
fluence of  all  these  dreadful  applications.   There 
is  not  one  of  them,  which,  instead  of  conciliat- 
ing, does  not  stir  up  a  principle  of  resistance ; 
and,  subject  any  human  creature  to  the  treat- 
ment of  them  all,  and  to  nothing  else,  and  he 
may  tremble  at  God,  and  shrink  from  the  con- 
templation of  God,  and  feel  an  overpowering 
awe  at  the  thought  of  God,  when  that  thought 
visits  him ; — but  we  maintain,  that  not  one  par- 
ticle of  influence  has  been  sent  into  his  heart, 
to  make  him  love  God.     Under  such   appli- 
cations as  these,  we  can  conceive  the  creature, 
gathering  a  new  energy  from  despair,  and  mus- 
tering up  a  stouter  defiance  than  ever,  to  the 
God  who  threatens  him.     Strange  contest  be- 
tween the  thing  formed  and  him  who  formed  it ; 
—but  we  see  it  exhibited  among  the  determined 
votaries  of  wickedness  in  life;   and  it  is  the 
very  contest  which  gives  its  moral  aspect  to  hell 
throughout  all  eternity.     There,  God  reigns  in 
vindictive  majesty,  and  there,   every  heart  of 
every  outcast,  sheathed  in  impenetrable  hard- 
ness, mutters  its  blasphemies  against  him.     O 
hideous  and  revolting  spectacle !  and  how  awful 
to  think,  that  the  unreclaimed  sons  of  profligacy, 
who  pour  along  our  streets,  and  throng  our  mar- 
kets, and  form  the  fearful  majority  in  almost 


346  SERMON  XIV. 

every  chamber  of  business,  and  in  every  work- 
shop of  industry,  are  thither  speeding  their  in- 
fatuated way !  What  a  wretched  field  of  contem- 
plation is  around  us,  when  we  see  on  every  side 
of  it  the  mutual  encouragement, — the  ever-ply- 
ing allurements, — the  tadt,  though  effectual  and 
well  understood,  combination,  sustaining,  over 
the  whole  face  of  this  alienated  world,  a  firm 
and  systematic  rebellion  against  God !    We  are 
not  offering  an  exaggerated  picture  when  we  say, 
that  within  reach  of  the  walk  of  a  single  hour, 
there  are  thousands,  and  thousands  more,  who 
have  cast  away  from  them  the  authority  of  God ; 
and  who  have  been  nerved  by  all  his  threaten- 
ings  into  a  more  determined  attitude  of  wick- 
edness ;  and  who  giory  in  their  unprincipled  dis- 
sipations ;  and  who,  without  one  sigh  at  the  mov- 
ing spectacle  of  ruined  innocence,  will,  in  the 
hearing  of  companions    younger   than   them- 
f  selves,  scatter  their  pestilential  levities  around 
them,  and  care  not  though  the  hope  of  parents, 
and  the  yet  unvitiated  dehcacy  of  youth,  shall 
wither  and  expire  under  the  contagion  of  their 
ruffian  example ;  and  will  patronize  every  step  of 
that  progress  which  leads  from  one  depravity  to 
another,   till   their  ill  fated  proselyte  made  as 
much   the  child  of  hell  as    themselves,   shall 
share  in  that  common  ruin  which,   in  the  great 
day  of  the  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment 
of  God,  will  come  forth  from  the  storehouse  of 
his  wrath,  in  one  mighty  torrent,  on  the  heads 


SERMON  XIV.  34) 

of  all  who  boast  of  their  iniquity.  We  have 
now  touched  on  the  limits  of  a  subject  of 
which  half  its  horrors  are  untold  ;  but  through 
which,  the  minister,  of  the  counsels  of  heaven 
must  clear  his  intrepid  way,  in  spite  of  all  its 
painfulness.  We  will  not  pursue  it  at  present, 
but  neither  will  we  count  the  digression  out 
of  place — should  a  single  parent  among  you  be 
led,  from  what  we  have  now  uttered,  to  have 
over  his  children  with  a  godly  jealousy,  and  not 
to  suffer  those,  for  whose  eternity  he  is  so  deep- 
ly responsible,  to  take  their  random  direction 
through  society,  just  where  the  prospects  of  busi- 
ness, and  of  worldly  advantage,  may  chance  to 
carry  them  ;  to  calculate  on  the  possibilities  of 
moral  corruption,  as  well  as  on  the  possibilities 
of  lucrative  employment ;  to  look  well  to  expo- 
sures and  acquaintances,  and  hours  of  social 
entertainment,  as  well  as  to  the  common-place 
object  of  a  situation  in  the  world.  And  when 
you  talk  of  a  good  line  for  your  children, 
just  think  a  little  more  of  the  line  that  lead- 
eth  to  eternity,  and  have  a  care  lest  you  be 
the  instrument  of  putting  them  on  such  a  path 
of  danger,  that  it  shall  only  be  by  the  very 
rarest  miracle  of  grace,  that  your  helpless  young 
can  be  kept  from  falling,  or  be  renewed  again 
into  repentance. 

But  the  difficulty  in  question  still  remains 
unresolved.  How  then  is  this  regeneration  to 
be  wrought,  if  no  threatenings  can  work  it, — if 


342  SERMON  XIV. 

no  terrors  of  judgment  can  soften  the  heart  into 
that  love  of  God,  which  forms  the  chief  feature 
of  repentance, — if  all  the  direct  applications  of 
law  and  of  righteous  authority,  and  of  its  tre- 
mendous and  immutable  sanctions,  so  far  from 
attaching  man  in  tenderness  to  his  God,  have 
only  the  effect  of  impressing  a  violent  recoil 
upon  all  his  affections,  and,  by  the  hardening 
influence  of  despair,  of  stirring  up  in  his  bosom 
a  more  violent  antipathy  than  ever?  Will  the 
high  and  solemn  proclamations  of  a  menacing 
Deity  not  do  it  ?  This  is  not  the  way  in  which 
the  heart  of  man  can  be  carried.   He  is  so  consti- 
tuted, that  the  law  of  love  can  never  never  be 
established  within  him  by  the  engine  of  terror ; 
and  here  is  the  barrier  to  this  regeneration  on  the 
part  of  man.     But  if  a  threat  of  justice  cannot 
do  it,   will   an  act  of  forgiveness  do  it  ?  This 
again  is  not  the  way  in  which  God  can  admit 
the  guilty  to  acceptance.     He  is  so  constituted, 
that  his  truth  cannot  be  trampled  upon,   and 
his  government  cannot  be  despoiled  of  its  au- 
thority, and  its  sanctions  cannot,    with  impu- 
nity, be  defied,  and  every  solemn  utterance  of 
the  Deity  cannot  but  find  its  accomplishment, 
in  such  a  way  as  may  vindicate  his  glory,  and 
make  the  whole  creation  he  has  formed  stand  in 
awe  of  its  Almighty  Sovereign.     And  here  is 
another  barrier  on  the  part  of  God ;  and  that 
economy  of  redemption,  in  which  a  dead  and 
undiscerning  world  see  no  skilfulness  to  admire. 


SERMON  XIV.  3a 

and  no  feature  of  graciousness  to  allure  them, 
is  so  planned,  in  the  upper  counsels  of  heaven, 
that  it  maketh  known,  to  principalities  and 
power,  the  manifold  wisdom  of  Him  who  de- 
vised it.  The  men  of  this  infidel  generation, 
whose  every  faculty  is  so  bedimmcd  by  the 
grossness  of  sense,  that  they  cannot  lay  hold  of 
the  realities  of  faith,  and  cannot  appreciate  them, 
— to  them  the  barriers  we  have  now  insisted 
on  which  lie  in  the  way  of  man,  taking  God  in- 
to his  love,  and  of  God  taking  man  into  his  ac- 
ceptance, may  appear  to  be  so  many  faint  and 
shadowy  considerations,  of  which  they  feel  not 
the  significancy ;  but,  to  the  pure  and  intellec- 
tual eye  of  angels,  they  are  substantial  obstacles, 
and  are  Mighty  to  Save  had  to  travel  in  the 
greatness  of  his  strength,  in  order  to  move  them 
away.  The  Son  of  God  descended  from  hea- 
ven, and  he  took  upon  him  the  nature  of  man, 
and  he  suffered  in  his  stead,  and  he  consented 
that  the  whole  burden  of  offended  justice  should 
fall  upon  him,  and  he  bore  in  his  own  body  on 
the  tree,  the  weight  of  all  those  accomplishments 
by  which  his  Father  behoved  to  be  glorified, 
and  after  having  magnified  the  law,  and  made 
it  honourable,  by  pouring  out  his  soul  unto  the 
death  for  us,  he  went  up  on  high,  and  by  an 
arm  of  everlasting  strength,  he  has  levelled  that 
wall  of  partition  w  hich  lay  across  the  path  oi 
acceptance ;  and  thus  it  is  that  the  barrier  on 
the  patt  of  God  is  done  away,  and  he,  with 


SU  SERMON  XIV. 

untarnished  glory,  can  dispense  forgiveness  over 
the  whole  extent  of  a  guilty  creation,  because 
he  carl  be  just,  while  he  is  the  justifier  of  them 
who  believe  in  Jesus. 

And  if  the  barrier,  on  the  part  of  God,  is  thus 
moved  aside,  why  not  the  barrier  on  the  part  of 
man  ?  Does  not  the  wisdom  of  redemption  shew 
itself  here  also  ?  Does  it  not  embrace  some  skil- 
ful contrivance,  by  which  it  penetrates  those 
mounds  that  beset  the  human  heart,  and  ward 
the  entrance  of  the  principle  of  love  away  from 
it,  and  which  all  the  direct  applications  of  ter- 
ror and  authority,  have  only  the  effect  of  fixing 
more  immoveably  upon  their  basis  ?  Yes  it  does, 
— for  it  changes  the  aspect  of  the  Deity  towards 
man  ;  and  were  man  only  to  have  faith  in  the 
announcements  of  the  gospel,  so  as  to  see  God 
with  the  eye  of  his  mind  under  this  new  aspect, 
— ^love  to  God  would  spring  up  in  his  heart,  as 
the  unfailing  consequence.  Let  man  see  God  as 
he  sets  himself  forth  in  this  wonderful  revelation, 
and  let  him  believe  the  reality  of  what  he  sees;  and 
he  cannot  but  love  the  Being  he  is  employed  in 
contemplating.  Without  this  gospel,  he  may  see 
him  to  be  a  God  of  justice ;  but  he  cannot  do 
this  without  seeing  the  frown  of  severity  direct- 
ed against  himself,  a  wretched  offender :  With 
this  gospel,  he  sees  the  full  burden  of  violated 
justice  borne  away  from  him ;  and  God  stands 
before  him  unrobed  of  all  his  severities,  and 
tenderly  inviting  him  to  draw  near  through  that 


SERMON  XIV.  345 

blood  of  atonement  which  was  shed,  the  just  for 
the  unjust,  to  bring  the  sinner  unto  God.     With- 
out this  gospel,  he  may  see  the  truth  oi*  God  ; 
but  he  sees  it  pledged,  to  the  fulfilment  of  die 
most  awful  thrcatenings  against  him  :  With  this 
gospel,  he  sees  the  full  weight  of  all  these  ac- 
complishments, resdng  on  the  head  of  the  great 
sacrifice ;  and  God's  truth  is  now  fully  embark- 
ed on  the  most  cheering  assurances  of  pardon, 
on  the  most  liberal  invitations  of  good  will, 
on  the  most  exceeding  great  and  precious  pro- 
mises.    Without  this  gospel,  he  may   see   the 
government  of  God  leaning  on  the  pillars  of  that 
immutability  which  upholds  it;  but  this  very 
immutability  is  to  him  the  sentence  of  despair  ; 
and  how  can  he  love  that  face,  on  which  are 
stamped  the  characters  of  a  stern  and  vindictive 
majesty?    With  this   gospel,  the   face  of  God 
stands  legibly  revealed  to  him  in  other  charac- 
ters.    That  law  which,  resting  on  the  solemn 
authority  of  its  firm  and  unalterable  require- 
ments, demanded  a  fulfilment,  up  to  the  last  jot 
and  tittle  of  it,  has  been  magnified,  and  has  been 
made  honourable,  by  one  illustrious  sufferer,  who 
put  forth  the  greatness  of  his  suength,  in  that 
dai-k  hour  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  when  he  bore 
the  burden  of  all  its  penalties.     That  wrath 
which    should    have   been    discharged  on   the 
guilty  millions  he  died  for,  was  all  concentred 
upon  him,  who  took  upon  himself  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace,  and  on  that  day  of  myst^- 

44 


346  SERMON  XIV. 

rious  agony,  drank,  to  the  very  dregs,  the  cap 
of  our  expiation.  And  God,  who  planned  the 
whole  work  of  this  wonderful  redemption, — 
who  in  love  to  a  guilty  world  sent  his  Son  a- 
mongst  us;  to  accomplish  it, — God,  who  rather 
than  lose  his  alienated  creatm-es,  as  he  could 
not  strip  his  eternal  throne  of  a  single  attribute 
that  supported  it,  awoke  the  sword  of  vengeance 
against  his  fellow,  that  on  him  the  truth  and  the 
justice  of  the  Deity  might  receive  their  most  il- 
lustrious vindication — God,  who,  out  of  Christ, 
sits  surrounded  with  all  the  darkness  of  unap- 
proachable majesty,  is  now  God  in  Christ,  re- 
conciling the  world  unto  himself,  and  not  im- 
puting unto  them  their  trespasses;  his  tender 
mercy  is  now  free  to  rejoice  amid  all  the  glory 
of  his  other  bright  and  untarnished  perfections, 
and  he  pours  the  expression  of  this  tenderness 
with  an  unsparing  hand,  over  the  whole  extent 
of  his  sinful  creation — and  he  lets  himself  down 
to  the  language  of  a  beseeching  supplicant, 
praying  that  each  and  every  one  of  us  might 
be  reconciled  unto  him — and  putting  on  a  win- 
ning countenance  of  invitation  to  the  guiltiest 
of  us  all,  he  tells  us,  that  if  we  only  come  to  him 
through  the  appointed  mediator,  he  will  blot  out 
as  with  a  thick  cloud,  our  transgressions— and 
that,  as  if  carried  away  to  a  land  that  was  not 
inhabited,  he  will  make  no  more  mention  of 
them. 
And  thus  it  is,  that  the  goodness  of  God  de- 


SERMON  XIV.  347 

Stroyeth  the  enmity  of  the  human  heart.  When 
every  other  argument  fails,  this,  if  perceived 
by  the  eye  of  faith,  finds  its  powerful  and  per- 
suasive way  through  every  barrier  of  resistance. 
Try  to  approach  the  heart  of  man  by  the  instm- 
ments  of  terror  and  of  authority,  and  it  will  dis- 
dainfully repel  you.  There  is  not  one  of  you 
skilled  in  the  management  ofhuman  nature,  who 
does  not  perceive,  that  though  this  may  be  a 
way  of  working  on  the  other  principles  of  our 
constitution, — of  working  on  the  fears  of  man, 
or  on  his  sense  of  interest,  this  is  not  the  way 
of  gaining  by  a  single  hair-breadth  on  the  at- 
tachments of  his  heart.  Such  a  way  may  force, 
or  it  may  terrify,  but  it  never,  never  can  endear ; 
and  after  all  the  threatening  array  of  such  an 
influence  as  this,  is  brought  to  bear  upon  man, 
there  is  not  one  particle  of  service  it  can  ex- 
tort from  him,  but  what  is  all  rendered  in  the 
spirit  of  a  painful  and  reluctant  bondage. 
Now,  this  is  not  the  service  which  prepares  for 
heaven.  This  is  not  the  service  which  assimi- 
lates men  to  angels.  This  is  not  the  obedience 
of  those  glorified  spirits,  whose  every  affection 
harmonizes  with  their  every  performance ;  and 
the  very  essence  of  whose  piety  consists  of  de- 
light in  God,  and  the  love  they  bear  to  him. 
To  bring  up  man  to  such  an  obedience  as 
this,  his  heart  behoved  to  be  approached  in 
a  peculiar  way;  and  no  such  way  is  to  be 
found,    but  within  the  limits  of  the  Christian 


/■ 


348  SERMON  XIV. 

revelation.     There  alone  you  see  God,  without 
injury  to  his  other  attributes,  plying  the  heart 
of  man  with  the  irresistible  argument  of  kind- 
ness.      There    alone    do    you    see   the  -great 
Lord  of  heaven  and  of  earth,  setting  himself 
forth  to  the  most  worthless  and  the  most  wan^ 
dering    of    his     children, — putting    forth    his 
own  hand  to  the  work  of  healing  the  breach 
which   sin   had  made    between  them, — telling 
him  that  his  word  could  not  be  set  aside,  and 
his  threatenings  could  not  be  mocked,  and  liis 
justice   could  not  be   defied  and  trampled  on, 
and  that  it  was  not  possible  for  his  perfections 
to  receive  the  slightest  taint  in  the  eyes  of  the 
creation  he  had  thrown  around  him;  but  that 
all  this  was  provided  for,  and  not  a  single  crea- 
ture within  the  compass  of  the  universe  he  had 
formed,  could  now  say,  that  forgiveness  to  man 
was  degrading  to  the  authority  of  God,  and  that 
by  the  very  act  of  atonement,  which  poured  a 
glory  over  all  the  high  attributes  of  his  charac- 
ter, his  mercy  might  now  burst  forth  without 
limit,  and  without  controul,  upon  a  guilty  world, 
and  the  broad  flag  of  invitation  be  unfurled  in 
the  signt  of  all  its  families. 

Let  the  sinner,  then,  look  to  God  through  the 
medium  of  such  a  revelation ;  and  the  sight 
wiiich  meets  him  there,  may  well  tame  the  ob- 
stinacy of  that  heart,  which  had  wrapped  itself 
up  in  impenetrable  hardness  against  the  force  of 


SERMON  XIV.  349 

every  other  consideration.  Now  that  the  storm 
of  the  Almighty's  wrath  has  been  discharged 
upon  hm  who  bore  the  burden  of  the  world's 
atonement,  he  has  turned  his  throne  of  glory 
into  a  throne  of  grace,  and  cleared  away  from 
the  pavilion  of  his  residence,  all  the  darkness, 
which  encompassed  it.  The  God  who  dwelleth 
there,  is  God  in  Christ ;  and  the  voice  he  sends 
from  it,  to  this  dark  and  rebellious  province  of  his 
mighty  empire,  is  a  voice  of  the  most  beseeching 
tenderness.  Good  will  to  men  is  the  announce- 
ment with  which  his  messengers  come  fraught 
to  a  guilty  world  ;  and,  since  the  moment  in 
which  it  burst  upon  mortal  ears  from  the  peace- 
ful canopy  of  heaven,  may  the  ministers  of  sal- 
vation take  it  up,  and  go  round  with  it  among 
all  the  tribes  and  individuals  of  the  species. — 
Such  is  the  real  aspect  of  God  towards  you. 
He  cannot  bear  that  his  alienated  cliildren 
should  be  finally  and  everlastingly  away  from 
him.  He  feels  for  you  all  the  longing  of  a  pa- 
rent bereaved  of  his  offspring.  To  woo  you 
back  again  unto  himself,  he  scatters  among  you 
the  largest  and  the  most  liberal  assurances,  and 
with  a  tone  of  imploring  tenderness,  does  he 
say  to  one  and  to  all  of  you,  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye, 
why  will  you  die  ?"  He  has  no  pleasure  in  your 
death.  He  does  not  want  to  glorify  himself  by 
the  destruction  of  any  one  of  you.  "  Look  to  me 
all  ye  ends  of  the  earth,  and  be  saved,"  is  the 
wide  and  the  generous  announcement,  by  which 


3S0  SERMON  XIV. 

he  would  recal,  from  the  very  outermost  Hmits  of 
his  sinful  creation,  the  most  worthless  and  pol- 
luted of  those  who  have  wandered  away  from 
him.  Now  give  us  a  man  who  perceives,  with 
the  eye  of  his  mind,  the  reality  of  all  this,  and 
you  give  us  a  man  in  possession  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  faith.  Give  us  a  man  in  possession  of 
this  faith;  and  his  heart  shielded,  as  it  were, 
against  the  terrors  of  a  menacing  Deity,  is  sof- 
tened and  subdued,  and  resigns  its  every  affec- 
tion at  the  moving  spectacle  of  a  beseeching 
Deity  ;  and  thus  it  is  that  faith  manifests  the  at- 
tribute which  the  Bible  assigns  to  it,  of  work- 
ing by  love.  Give  us  a  man  in  possession  of 
this  love  ;  and  animated  as  he  is,  with  the  living 
principle  of  that  obedience,  where  the  willing 
and  delighted  consent  of  the  inner  man  goes 
along  with  the  performance  of  the  outer  man, 
his  love  manifests  the  attribute  which  the  Bi- 
ble assigns  to  it,  where  it  says,  "  This  is  the 
love  of  God,  that  ye  keep  his  commandments." 
And  thus  it  is,  amid  the  fruiriessness  of  every 
other  expedient,  when  power  threatened  to 
crush  the  heart  which  it  could  not  soften, — 
when  authority  lifted  its  voice,  and  laid  on  man 
an  enactment  of  love  which  it  could  not  carry, 
— when  terror  shot  its  arrows,  and  they  dropped 
ineffectual  from  that  citadel  of  the  human  affec- 
tions, which  stood  proof  against  the  impression 
of  eveiy  one  of  them, — when  wrath  mustered 
up  its  ^ppalluig  severities,  and  filled  that  bosom 


SERMON  XIV.  351 

with  despaii-  which  it  could  not  fill  with  the 
warmth  of  a  confiding  attachment, — then  the 
kindness  of  an  inviting  God  was  brought  to  beai* 
on  the  heart  of  man,  and  got  an  opening  through 
all  its  mysterious  avenues.  Goodness  did  what 
the  nakedness  of  power  could  not  do.  It  found 
its  way  through  all  the  intricacies  of  the  human 
constitution,  and  there,  depositing  the  right 
principle  of  repentance,  did  it  establish  the 
alone  effectual  security  for  the  right  purposes, 
and  the  right  fruits  of  repentance* 


SERMON  XV. 


THE  EVILS  OF  FALSE  SECURITY, 


Jeremiah  vi.  14. 


'"  They  have  healed  also  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  slightly,  saying,  Peace,  Peace ;  when  there  is  no 
peace." 

We  must  all  have  remarked,  on  what  a  slight 
and  passing  consideration  people  will  dispose 
of  a  question  which  relates  to  the  interest  of 
their  eternity;  and  how  strikingly  this  stands 
contrasted  with  the  very  deep,  and  earnest,  and 
long  sustained  attention,  which  they  bestow  on 
a  question  that  relates  to  their  interest,  or  their 
fortune,  in  this  world.     Ere  they  embark,  for  ex- 
ample, on  an  enterprize  of  trade,  they  will  look 
at  all  the  sides,  and  all  the  possibilities  of  the 
speculation ;  and  every  power  of  thought  within 
them,  will  be  put  to  its  busiest  exercise,  and 
they  will  enter  upon  it  with  much  fearfulness, 
and  they  will  feel  an  anxious  concern  in  every 
step,  and  every  new  evolution,  of  such  an  under- 
taking.    Compare  this  with  the  very  loose  and 
summary  way  in  which  they  make  up  their  minds. 


SERMON  XV.  353 

ftbout  the  chance  of  happiness  in  another  work!. 
See  at  how  easy  a  rate  they  will  bo  satisfied  with 
some  maxim  of  security,  the  utterance  of  which 
serves  as  a  bar  against  all  further  prosecution 
of  the  subject.     Behold  the  use  they  make  of 
some  hastily  assumed  principle  in  religion, — 
not  for   the   purpose   of  fastening  their  minds 
upon  it,  but  for  the  purpose,  in  fact,  of  hurrying 
their  minds  away  from  it.     For  it  must  be  ob- 
served of  the  people  to  whom  we  allude,  that,  in 
spite  of  all  their  thoughtlessness  about  the  affairs 
of  the  soul,  they  are  not  altogether  without  some 
opinion  on  the  matter ;  and  in  which  opinion 
there  generally  is  comprised  all  the  theology  of 
which  they  are  possessed.     Without  some  such 
opinion,  even  the  most  regardless  of  men  might 
feel  themselves  in  a  state  of  restlessness ;   and 
therefore  it  is,  however  seldom  they  are  visited 
with  any  thought  about  eternity,  and  however 
gently  this  thought  touches  them,  and  however 
quickly  it  passes  away,  to  be  replaced  by  some 
of  the   more   urgent  vanities   and  interests  of 
time,  yet,  with  most  men,  there  is  something 
like  an  actual  making  up  of  their  minds,  on  this 
awfully  important  subject.     There  is  a  settle- 
ment they  have  come  to  about  it,  which,  gener- 
ally speaking,  serves  them  to  the  end  of  their 
days ; — and  on  the  strength  of  which,  tliere  are 
many  who  can  hush  w  ithin  them,  every  alarm 
of  conscience,  and  repel  from  without  tlicuj,  the 
whole  force  of  a  preacher's  demonstration,  and 

4'^ 


354  SERMON  XV. 

all  that  power  of  disquietude  which  lies  in  Ws 
faithful  and  impressive  warnings. 

We  speak  in  reference  to  a  very  numerous 
set  of  individuals,  among  the  upper  and  mid- 
dling classes  of  society.  There  is  a  class  of 
what  may  be  called  slender  and  sentimental 
religionists,  who  do  profess  a  reverence  for  the 
matter,  and  maintain  many  of  its  outward  decen- 
cies, and  are  visited  with  occasional  thoughts, 
and  occasional  feelings  of  tenderness  about 
death,  and  duty,  and  eternity,  and  would  be 
shocked  at  the  utterance  of  an  infidel  opinion  ; 
and  with  all  these  symptoms  of  a  religious  in- 
clination about  them,  have  their  minds  very 
comfortably  made  up,  and  altogether  free  from 
any  apprehension,  either  of  present  wrath,  or  of 
coming  vengeance.  Now,  on  examining  the 
ground  of  their  tranquillity,  we  are  at  a  loss  to 
detect  a  single  ingredient  of  that  peace  and  joy 
in  beUeving,  which  we  read  of  among  the 
Christians  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  not 
that  Christ  is  set  forth  a  propitiation  for  their 
sins, — it  is  not  that  they  stagger  not  at  the 
promise  of  God,  because  of  unbelief, — ^it  is 
not  that  the  love  of  him  is  shed  abroad  in  their 
hearts,  by  the  Holy  Ghost, — it  is  not  that  they 
carry  along  with  them  any  consciousness  what- 
ever, of  a  growing  conformity  to  the  image  of 
the  Saviour, — it  is  not  that  their  calling  and 
their  election  are  made  sure  to  them,  by  the 
successful  diligence  with  which  they  are  cul- 


SERMON  XV.  355 

tivating  the  various  accomplishments  of  the 
Christian  character  ;--therc  is  not  one  of  these 
ingredients,  we  will  venture  to  say,  which  enters 
into  the  satisfaction  that  many  feel  with  their 
own  prospects,  and  into  the  complacency  they 
have  in  their  own  attainments,  and  into  their 
opinion,  that  God  is  looking  to  them  with  in- 
dulgence and  friendship.  With  most  of  them, 
there  is  not  only  an  ignorance,  but  a  positive 
disgust,  about  these  things.  They  associate 
with  them  the  charges  of  methodism,  and  mys- 
ticism, and  fanaticism  ;  and  meanwhile  cherish 
in  their  own  hearts,  a  kind  of  impregnable  con- 
fidence, resting  entirely  on  some  other  founda- 
tion. 

We  beheve  the  real  cause  of  their  tran- 
quillity to  be,  just  that  eternity  is  not  seen 
nearly  enough,  or  urgently  enough,  to  disturb 
them.  It  stands  so  far  away  on  the  back 
ground  of  their  contemplation,  that  they  are 
almost  entirely  taken  up  with  the  intervening 
objects.  Any  glimpse  they  have  of  the  futurity 
which  lies  on  the  other  side  of  time,  is  so  faint, 
and  so  occasional,  that  its  concerns  never  come 
to  them  with  the  urgency  of  a  matter  on  hand. 
It  is  not  so  much  because  they  think  in  a  par- 
ticular way  on  this  topic,  that  they  feel  them- 
selves to  be  at  peace.  It  is  rather,  because  they 
think  so  little  of  it.  Still,  however,  they  do 
have  a  transient  and  occasional  thought,  and 
it  is  all  on  the  side  of  tranquillity ;   and  couJd 


S56  SERMON  XV. 

this  thought  be  exposed  as  a  minister  of  de- 
ceitful complacency  to  the  heart,  it  may  have 
the  effect  of  working  in  it  a  salutary  alarm, 
and  of  making  the  possessor  of  it  see  the  naked- 
ness of  his  condition,  and  of  undermining  every 
other  trust  but  a  trust  in  the  offered  salvation 
of  the  gospel,  and  of  unsettling  the  blind  and 
easy  confidence  of  his  former  days,  and  of 
prompting  him  with  the  question,  "  What  shall 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  and  of  leading  him  to  try 
this  question  by  the  light  of  revelation,  and  to 
prosecute  it  to  a  scriptural  conclusion,  till  he 
came  to  the  answer  of,  "  Believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

What  is  the  way,  then,  in  which  they  do  ac- 
tually make  up  their  minds  upon  this  subject  ? 
There  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  pretty  general  ad- 
mission, that  we  are  sinners,  though  along  with 
this,  there  is  a  disposition  to  palliate  the  enor- 
mity of  sin,  and  to  gloss  it  over  with  the  gentle 
epithet  of  an  infirmity.  It  is  readily  allowed, 
then,  that  we  have  our  infirmities ;  and  then  to 
make  all  right,  and  secure,  and  comfortable,  the 
sentiment  with  which  they  bring  the  matter 
round  again,  is  that,  though  we  have  our  infir- 
mities, God  is  a  merciful  God,  and  he  will  over- 
look them.  This  vague,  and  general,  and  in- 
distinct apprehension  of  the  attribute  of  mercy 
is  the  anchor  of  their  hope ;  not  a  very  sure  and 
'Steadfast  one  certainly,  but  just  as  sure  and  as 


SERMON  XV.  357 

steadfast,  as,  in  their  peaceful  state  of  unconcern, 
they  have  any  demand  for.  A  vessel  in  smooth 
water  needs  not  be  very  strongly  fastened  in  her 
moorings;  and  really  any  convictions  of  sin  they 
have,  agitate  them  so  gently,  that  a  very  slen- 
der principle  indeed,  uttered  occasionally  by 
the  mouth,  and  with  no  distinct  or  perceptible 
hold  upon  the  heart,  is  enough  to  quiet  and  sub- 
due all  that  is  troublesome  within  them.  A 
slight  hurt  needs  but  a  slight  remedy,  and  how- 
ever virulent  the  disease  may  be,  jet,  if  the  pa- 
tient be  but  gently  alarmed,  a  gentle  applica- 
tion is  enough  to  pacify  him  in  the  mean  time. 
Now,  a  tasteful  and  a  tender  sentiment  about 
the  goodness  of  God,  is  just  such  an  applica- 
tion. He  w^ill  not  be  severe  upon  our  weak- 
nesses; he  will  not  cast  a  glance  of  stern  and 
unrelenting  indignation  upon  us.  It  is  true, 
that  there  is  to  be  met  with,  among  the  vilest 
dregs  and  refuse  of  society,  a  degree  of  pro- 
fligacy, for  which  it  would  really  be  too  much 
to  expect  forgiveness.  The  use  of  hell  is  for 
the  punishment  of  such  gross  and  enormous 
w^ickedness  as  this.  But  the  people  who  are  so 
very  depraved,  and  so  very  shocking,  stand  far 
beneath  the  place  which  we  occupy  in  the  scale 
of  character.  We,  with  our  many  amiable,  and 
good,  and  neighbourlike  points  and  accomplish- 
ments, are  fair  and  benefitting  subjects  for  the 
kindness  of  God.     When  w^e  err,  we  shall  he- 


358  SERMON  XV. 

take  ourselves  to  a  trust  in  that  indulgence, 
which  gives  to  our  religion  the  aspect  of  so 
much  cheerfulness ;  and  we  will  school  down  all 
that  is  disquieting,  by  a  sentiment  of  confidence 
in  that  mercy  which  is  soothing  to  our  hearts, 
and  which  we  delight  to  hear  expatiated  upon, 
in  terms  of  tastefulness,  by  the  orators  of  a 
genteel  and  cultivated  piety. 

Under  this  loose  system  of  confidence,  then, 
by  which  the  peace  of  so  many  a  sinner  is  up- 
held, it  is  the  general  mercy  of  God  on  which 
he  rests.  I  shall,  therefore,  in  the  first  place, 
endeavour  to  prove  the  vanity  of  such  a  confi- 
dence ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  evils  of  it. 

I.  There  is  one  obvious  respect,  in  which  this 
mercy  that  is  so  slenderly  spoken  of,  and  so 
vaguely  trusted  in,  is  not  in  unison  with  truth ; 
and  that  is,  it  is  not  the  mercy  which  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  an  actual  offer  from  God  to 
man,  in  the  true  message  that  he  has  been 
pleased  to  deliver  to  the  world.  In  this  mes- 
sage, God  makes  a  free  offer  of  his  mercy,  no 
doubt ;  but  he  offers  it  on  a  particular  footign, 
and  on  that  footmg  only,  will  he  have  it  to  be 
received.  Along  with  the  revelation  he  makes 
of  his  attribute  of  mercy,  he  bids  us  look  to  the 
particular  way,  in  which  he  chooses  that  attri- 
bute to  be  put  forth.  The  man  who  steps  for- 
ward to  relieve  you  of  your  debts,  by  an  act  of 
gratuitous  kindness,  may  surely  reserve  the  pri- 
vilege of  doing  it  in  his  own  way ;  and  whether 


SERMON  XV.  3r,9 

it  be  by  a  present  in  goods,  or  by  a  present  in 
money,  or  by  an  order  upon  a  third  i)erson,  or 
by  the  appointment  of  one  whom  he  makes  the 
agent  of  his  beneficence,  and  whom  he  asks  you 
to  correspond  with  and  to  draw  upon,  it  would 
surely  be  most  preposterous  in  you  to  quarrel 
with  his  generosity,  because  it  would  have  been 
more  to  your  taste,  had  it  come  to  you  through 
a  different  channel  of  conveyance.  He  has  a 
fair  right  of  insisting  upoa  his  own  way  of  it  \ 
and  if  you  will  not  acquiesce  in  this  way,  and  he 
leaves  you  under  your  burden,  you  have  nothing 
to  complain  of  You  might  have  liked  it  better, 
had  he  authorised  you  to  draw  upon  himself, 
rather  than  on  the  agent  he  has  fixed  upon. 
But  no ;  he  has  his  reasons,  and  he  persists  in 
his  own  way  of  it,  and  you  must  either  go  along 
with  this  way,  or  throw  yourself  out  of  the  be- 
nefit of  his  generosity  altogether.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that,  in  spite  of  all  this,  you  may  be  so 
very  perverse  as  to  draw  upon  himself,  instead 
of  drawing  upon  the  authorized  agent.  Well, 
the  effect  is,  just  that  your  draft  is  dishonoured, 
and  your  debt  still  lies  upon  you  ;  and  you,  hy 
your  wilful  resistance  to  the  plan  of  relief  laid 
down,  are  left  to  remain  imder  the  full  weighi 
of  your  embarrassments. 

And  so  of  God.  He  may,  and  he  actual  I  \ 
has  stepped  forward,  to  relieve  us  from  thai 
debt  of  sin  under  which  we  lie.  But  Jie  has 
taken  his  own  way  of  it.     He  has  not  left  ns  Uy 


360  SERMON  XV. 

dictate  the  matter  to  him, — but  he  himself  has 
found  out  a  ransom.  He  offers  us  eternal  hfe ; 
but  he  tells  us  where  this  is  to  be  found,  even  in 
his  Son,  and  he  bids  us  look  unto  him,  and  be 
saved ;  and  he  says,  that  he  who  hath  the  Son 
hath  life,  and  that  he  who  believeth  not  the 
Son,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.  To 
restrain,  as  it  were,  our  immediate  approaches 
to  himself,  he  reveals  an  agent,  a  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man,— and  he  lets  us  know, 
that  no  one  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by 
him.  He  makes  a  free  oflfer  of  salvation, — but 
it  is  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  the 
whole  revealed  word  of  God  directs  our  eye,  as 
the  prime  agent  in  the  recovery  of  a  guilty 
world.  To  say  that  we  have  our  infirmities, 
but  God  is  merciful,  is  like  drawing  direct  upon 
God  himself.  But  God  tells  us  that  he  will 
not  be  so  drawn  upon.  He  chooses,  and  has 
he  not  the  right  of  choosing,  to  bestow  all  his 
favours  upon  a  guilty  world,  in  and  through  his 
Son  Christ  Jesus  ?  If  you  choose  to  object  to 
this  way,  you  must  just  abide  by  the  conse- 
quences. The  offer  is  made.  God  sets  him- 
self forward  as  merciful.  But  he  lets  you  know, 
at  the  same  time,  the  particular  way  in  which 
he  chooses  to  be  so.  This  way  may  be  an 
offence  to  you.  You  would  perhaps  have  liked 
better,  had  there  been  no  Christ,  no  preaching 
of  his  cross,  nothing  said  about  his  cleansing, 
and  peace-speaking  blood. — in  a  word,  nothinsr 


SERMON  XV.  361 

of  all  that  which  forms  the  burden  of  metho- 
distical  sermons,  and  which,  if  met  with  in  the 
New  Testament  at  all,  is  only  to  be  found  in 
what  you  may  think  its  dark  and  mystical  pas- 
sages. It  would  have  been  more  congenial  to 
your  taste,  perhaps,  had  you  been  left  to  the 
undisturbed  enjoyment  of  your,  own  soothing 
and  elegant  conceptions,— could  you  just  have 
gone  direct  to  God  himself,  whom  the  eye  of 
your  imagination  had  stripped  of  all  tremen- 
dous severity  against  sin,  of  all  the  pure  and 
holy  jealousies  of  his  nature,  of  all  that  is  ma- 
jestic in  the  high  attributes  of  truth  and  righ- 
teousness. A  God  singly  possessed  of  tender- 
ness, in  virtue  of  which,  he  would  smile  conni- 
vance at  all  our  infirmities,  and  bend  an  in- 
dulgent eye  over  the  waywardness  of  a  heart, 
devoted  with  all  its  affections  to  the  vanities 
and  pleasures  of  time, — this  would  be  a  God 
highly  suited  to  the  taste  and  convenience  of  a 
guilty  world.  But,  alas !  there  is  no  such  God. 
To  trust  in  the  mercy  of  such  a  Being  as  this, 
is  to  lean  ari  a  nonentity  of  your  own  imagina- 
tion. It  is  to  be  led  astray,  by  a  fancy  picture 
of  your  own  forming.  There  is  no  other  God 
to  whom  you  can  repair  for  mercy,  but  God  in 
Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  and 
not  imputing  unto  them  their  trespasses.  And 
if  you  resist  the  preaching  of  Christ  as  foolish- 
ness,— if  you  will  not  recognise 'him,  but  persist 
in  your  hoping,  arid  your  trusting,  on  the  g«n- 

46 


362  SERMON  Xr, 

eral  ground  that  God  is  merciful,  you  are  jusi 
wrapping  yourselves  up  in  a  delusive  confidence^ 
and  pleasing  yourselves  with  your  own  imagi^ 
nation ;  and  the  only  real  offer  that  ever  was,  or, 
will  be,  made  to  sinful  man,  you  are  putting  away 
from  you.  The  mercy  upon  vvhich  you  rest,  is, 
in  disunion  with  truth.  It  is  a  spark  of  your 
own  kindling,  and  if  you  continue  to  walk  in  it, 
it  will  lead  you  into  a  path  of  darkness,  and  be- 
wilder you  to  your  final  undoing. 

II.  The  evils  of  such  a  confidence  as  we  hayo 
been  attempting  to  expose,  are  mainly  reducible; 
to  two,  which  we  shall  consider  in  order.        ^.    .; 

First,  this  delusive  confidence  casts  an  as-| 
persion  on  the  character  of  God.  It  would  in-^ 
flict  a  mutilation  upon  that  character.^  Jft  J4 
confidence  in  such  a  mercy  as  would  dethrone 
the  lawgiver,  and  establish  the  anarchy  of  a 
wild  misrule,  over  his  fallen  and  .dishonoured 
attributes.  We  may  lightly  t^ke  up  with,  ^y 
conception  that  God  is  all  tenderness,  and'no-^ 
thing  else,  and  thus  try  to  accommodate  the  chaf 
racter  of  the  Eternal,  to  the  standard  of  our  own 
convenience,  and  our  own  wislies.  We,  instea^^ 
of  looking  to  the  immutability  of  the  Godhead^ 
and  taking  our  fixed  and  perniaiieht  lesson  from 
such  a  contemplation,  may  fancy  of  the  God^. 
head,  that  he  is  ever  assuming*a  new  shape,  and 
a  new  character,  according;  to  the  frail  and  fluc- 
tuating  caprices  pf  human  opinion.  Instead  of 
God  making  man  according  to  his  pleasure, 


SERMON  XV.  368 

man  would  form  God  in  the  mould  of  his  own 
imagination.  He  forgets  that,  in  the  whole  range 
of  existence,  he  can  only  meet  with  one  ob- 
ject who  is  inflexibly  and  everlastingly  the  same, 
and  that  is  God, — that  he  may  sooner  think  of 
causing  the  everlasting  hills  to  recede  from  their 
basis,  than  of  causing  an  infringement  on  the 
nature  of  the  unalterable  Deity,  or  on  the  de- 
signs and  maxims  which  support  the  method  of 
his  administration,— that  to  assume  a  character 
for  him  in  our  own  mind,  instead  of  learning 
what  the  character  is  from  himself,  is  in  fact  to 
make  the  foolish  thought  of  the  creature,  para- 
mount to  the  eternal  and  immutable  constitution 
of  the  Creator. 

Let  us  therefore  give  up  our  own  conceptions, 
and  look  steadily  to  that  light  in  which  God 
hath  actually  put  himself  forth  to  us.  He  has 
dealt  out  a  variety  of  communications  respect- 
ing his  own  ever-during  character  and  attri- 
butes, to  the  children  of  men ;  and  he  tells  us, 
that  he  is  a  God  of  truth,  and  that  he  is  jealous 
of  his  honour,  and  that  he  will  not  be  mocked, 
and  that  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  ere 
any  of  his  words  pass  away.  Let  us  just  attend 
to  some  of  these  words.  He  who  continues  not 
in  the  whole  book  of  this  law,  is  accursed.  The 
whole  world  is  guilty  before  God.  He  will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guilty.  Without  shedding 
of  blood,  there  is  no  remission.  These  are  the 
words  of  God.     He  has  put  them  into  a  record. 


364  SERMON  XT. 

Every  one  of  us  may  read  them,  and  compare 
the  sayings  of  God,  with  the  doings  of  Godj 
and  if  they  do  not  correspond,  the  one  with  the 
other,  we  may  charge  him  with  falsehood  in  the 
face  of  his  insulting  enemies,  and  lift  the  voice 
of  mockery  against  him,  and  feel  the  triumph 
which  rebels  feel,  when  they  witness  the  timi- 
dity of  a  feeble  monarch,  who  does  not,  or  dares 
not,  carry  his  threats  into  accomplishment. 
And  is  it  possible,  that  the  throne  of  the  eternal 
God  can  rest  on  a  basis  so  tottering, — ^or  that,  if 
ever  he  shall  descend  to  the  manifestation  of 
mercy,  he  will  not  give  the  manifestation  of  his 
truth  and  his  righteousness  along  with  it  ? 

Now,  those  who,  without  any  reference  to 
Christ,  find  their  way  to  comfort  on  the  strength 
of  their  own  general  confidence  in  God's  mer- 
cy, make  no  account  whatever  of  his  truth,  or 
his  righteousness.  What  becomes  of  the  threat- 
enings  of  God  ?  What  becomes  of  the  immuta- 
bihty  of  his  purposes  ?  What  becomes  of  the 
unfailing  truth  of  all  his  communications  ?  What 
becomes  of  the  solemnity  of  his  warnings  ?  and 
how  is  it  possible  to  be  at  all  impressed  by 
them, — if  they  are  ever  and  anon  done  away  by 
a  weak  and  capricious  system  of  connivance  ? 
What  becomes  of  the  wide  and  everlasting  dis- 
tinctions, between  obedience  and  sin  ?  What 
becomes  of  the  holiness  of  the  Deity?  What 
becomes  of  reverence  for  his  name,  among  the 
wide  circle  of  angels,  and  archangels,  and  sers- 


SERMON  XV.  3G,0 

phim,  and  cherubim,  who  have  all  heard  his 
awful  proclamations  against  the  children  of  ini- 
quity,—if  they  see  that  any  one  of  them  may, 
by  a  mere  act  of  confidence  in  his  mercy,  turn 
all  that  has  been  uttered  against  them  into  an 
unmeaning  parade  ?  Where,  in  a  word,  are  all 
those  sanctions  and  securities  which  can  alone 
make  the  government  of  the  Deity,  to  be  a  go- 
vernment at  all  ?  These  are  all  questions  which 
the  people  to  whom  we  allude,  never  think  of 
entertaining;  nor  do  they  feel  the  slightest 
concern  about  them;  and  they  count  it  quite 
enough,  if  they  can  just  work  themselves  up  in- 
to such  a  tolerable  feeling  of  security,  as  that 
they  shall  not  be  disturbed  in  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  the  good  things  of  this  life,  which  form 
all  in  fact  that  their  hearts  long  after,  and  which 
if  only  permitted  to  retain  in  peace,  they  posi- 
tively care  not  for  the  glory  of  God,  or  how  it 
shall  be  kept  inviolate.  This  is  not  their  affair. 
The  engrossing  desire  of  their  bosoms,  is  just  a 
selfish  desire  after  their  own  ease;  and  the 
strange  preparation  for  that  heaven,  the  unceas- 
ing song  of  which  is,  Holy  and  righteous  are  thj 
judgments,  O  thou  King  of  Saints,  is  such  a  habit 
of  confidence,  as  lays  prostrate  all  the  majesty 
of  these-  high  and  unchangeable  perfections. 

And  yet  if  you  examine  these  people  closely, 
you  will  obtain  their  consent  to  the  position, 
that  there  is  a  law,  and  that  the  human  race  are 
bound  to  obedience,  and  that  the  authority  of 


366  SERMON  XV. 

the  law  is  supported  by  sanctions,  and  that  the 
truth,  and  justice,  and  dignity  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  are  involved  in  these  sanctions    being 
enforced  and  executed.     They  do   not  refuse 
the  tenet,  that  man  is  an  accountable  subject, 
and  that  God  is  a  judge  and  a  lawgiver.     All 
that  we  ask  of  them,  then,  is,  to  examine  the 
a,ccount  which  this  subject  has  to  render,  and 
they  will  find,  in  characters  too  glaring  to  be 
resisted,  that,  with  the  purest  and  most  perfect 
individual  amongst  us,  it  is  a  wretched  account 
of  guilt  and  of  deficiency.     That  law,  which 
is  held  to  be  in  full  authority  and  operation 
over  us,  has  been  most  unquestionably  violated. 
Now,  what  is  to  be  made  of  this  ?  Is  the  sub- 
ject to  rebel,  and  disobey  every  hour,  and  the 
king,  by  a  perpetual  act  of  indulgence,  to  efface 
every  character  of  truth  and  dignity  from  his 
government?  Do   this,  and  you  depose  the  le- 
gislator from  his  throne.     You  reduce  the  sanc- 
tions of  his  law  to  a  name,  and  a  mockery.    You 
bring  down  the  high  economy  of  heaven,  to  the 
standard  of  human  convenience.     You  pull  the 
fabric  of  God's  moral  government  to   pieces ; 
and  unsubstantiate  all  the  solemnity  of  his  pro- 
claimed  sayings, — all  the   lofty   annunciations 
of  the  law,  and  of  the  prophets,— all  that  is  told 
of  the  mighty  apparatus  of  the  day  of  judg- 
^xient, — all   that  revelation  points  to,  or  con- 
science can  suggest,  of  a  living  and  a  reigning 
God,  who  will  not  let  himself  down  to  be  affront- 


SERMON  XV.  ;]G7 

ed,  or  trampled  upon  hy  tlie  creatures  ^vhom  he 
has  formed. 

They  who,  in  profession,  admit  the  truth  of 
God,  and  yet  take  comfort  from  his  mercy,  v  ith- 
oirt  looking  to  him  who  bare  in  his  own  person, 
the  accomplishment  of  all  the  threatenings,  do 
in  fact  turn  that  truth  into  a  lie.  They  who, 
in  profession,  admit  the  justice  of  God,  and  yet 
trust  in  the  remission  of  their  sins,  without  any 
distinct  acknowledgment  of  him  on  whom  God 
has  laid  the  burden  of  their  condemnation,  do 
in  fact  prove,  that  in  their  mouths  justice  is 
nothing  but  an  unmeaning  articulation.  They 
who,  in  profession,  admit  the  authority  of  those 
great  and  unchanging  principles,  which  preside 
over  the  whole  of  God's  moral  administration, 
and  yet  assign  to  him  such  a  loose  and  easy 
connivance  at  iniquity,  as  by  a  mere  act  of  ten- 
derness, to  recal  the  every  denunciation  tliat  he 
had  uttered  agsiinst  it,  do  in  fact  put  forth  a  sa- 
crilegious hand  to  the  pillars  of  that  immutabih- 
ty,  by  which  the  government  of  creatiop  is  up- 
held and  perpetuated.  Let  them  rest  assured* 
ihat  there  is  no  way  of  reconciliation,  but  such 
a  way  as  shJeUs  all  the  holy,  and  pure,  and  in- 
flexible attributes  pf  the,  Divinity,  from  degra- 
dation .  and  contempt.  Out  of  that  hidmg-place 
which  is  made  known  in  the  gospel,  all  that  is 
jus^  and  severe,  and  inflexible  in  the  perfections 
of  ,Qod,  stands  in  threatening  array  against  every 
son  and  daughter  of  the  species.     And  if  they 


368  SERiMON  XV. 

will  not  look  to  God  as  he  sets  himself  forth  t© 
us  in  the  New  Testament,— if  they  refuse  to 
look  unto  him  as  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself,  and  not  imputing  unto  them 
their  trespasses, — if  they  set  aside  all  that  is  said 
about  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  and 
the  new  and  living  way  of  access,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  mediatorship  of  Christ  hath  re- 
paired all  the  indignities  of  sin,  and  shed  a  glory 
over  the  truth  and  justice  of  the  lawgiver, — if 
they  will  still  persist  in  looking  to  him  through 
another  channel  than  that  of  his  own  revelation ; 
he  will  persist  in  looking  to  them  with  the  as- 
pect of  a  stern  and  unappeased  enemy.  He 
will  not  let  down  the  honours  of  his  inflexible 
character,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  refuse 
his  way  of  salvation.  H^  will  not  fall  in  with 
the  delusions  of  those  who  profess  to  revere' 
this  character,  and  then  shake  the  whole  bur-^ ' 
den  of  conscious  guilt  and  infirmity  away  ^ 
from  them,  by  the  presumption,  that  in  some 
way  or  other,  the  mercy  of  God  will  inter- 
pose to  defend  them  from  the  vengeance  of 
his  more  severe  and  unrelenting  perfections." 
The  one  and  the  only  way,  in  which  he  dispen- 
ses mercy,  is  through  the  atonement  of  Christ, — 
and  if  your  confidence  be  laid  in  any  other  quar- 
ter, he  will  put  that  confidence  to  sh^me.  He 
will  not  accept  the  prayers  of  those,  who  can 
thus  make  free  with  the  unchangeable  attributes 
which   belong  to  him.     He  will  not  descend 


SERMON  XV.  369 

with  such  to  any  intercourse  of  affection  what- 
ever. He  will  not  own  the  approachos,  nor 
tvill  he  deal  out  any  boon  from  the  storehouse  ol 
his  grace,  to  those  who  profess  a  general  confi- 
dence in  his  mercy — when,  instead  of  a  mercy 
which  guards,  and  dignifies,  and  keeps  entire 
the  whole  glory  and  character  of  God,  it  is  a 
mercy  which  beUes  his  word,  which  invades  his 
other  perfections,  which  spoils  the  divine  image 
of  its  grandeur,  which  breaks  up  the  whoio  fa- 
bric of  his  moral  government,  and  would  make 
the  throne  of  heaven  the  seat  of  an  unmeaning 
pageant,  the  throne  of  an  insulted  and  degraded 
sovereign. 

The   rehgion  of  nature, — or  the  rehgion  of 
unaided  demonstration, — or  the  religion  of  our 
most    fashionable    and    philosophical    schools, 
leaves  this  question  totally  undisposed  of; — and 
at  the  same  time,  till  the  question  be  resolved, 
all  the  hopes  of  the  human  soul  are  in  a  state  of 
the    most    fearful    uncertainty.     This    religion 
makes   God   the  subject  of  its  demonstrations, 
and   it  draws   out  a   list  of  attributes,  and   it 
makes  the  justice  of  God  to  be  one  of  these  at- 
tributes, and  the  placabihty  of  God  to  be  ano- 
ther of  them,  and  it  admits  that  it  is  in   virtue 
of  the  former  perfection  of  his  nature,  that  he 
makes  condemnation  and  punishment  to  rest  on 
the  head  of  those  who  violate  his  law,  and  that  it 
is  in  virtue  of  the  latter  perfection  that  he  looks 
connivance,  and  extends  pardon  t^  such  viola- 
47 


570  SERMON  XV- 

tions.  Now,  the  question  which  the  disciples  of 
this  religion  have  never  settled,  is,  how  to  strike 
the  compromise  between  these  attributes.  They 
cannot  dissipate  the  cloud  of  mjsterj,  which 
hangs  over  the  line  of  demarcation  that  is  be- 
tween them.  They  cannot  tell  in  how  far  the 
justice  of  God  will  insist  on  its  exactions  and 
its  claims,  or  what  the  extent  of  that  disobe- 
dience is,  over  which  the  placability  of  God  will 
spread  the  shelter  of  a  generous  forgiveness. 
There  is  a  dilemma  here,  out  of  which  they  can- 
not unwarp  themselves, — a  question  to  which 
they  can  give  no  other  answer,  than  the  ex- 
pressive answer  of  their  silence — and  it  is  such 
a  silence,  as  leaves  our  every  apprehension  un- 
quelled,  and  the  whole  burden  of  our  unappeased 
doubts  and  difficulties  as  insupportable  as  before. 
What  we  demand  is,  that  they  shall  lay  down 
the  steady  and  unalterable  position  of  that  limit, 
at  which  the  justice  of  God,  and  the  placability 
of  God,  cease  their  respective  encroachments 
on  each  other.  If  they  cannot  tell  this,  they 
can  tell  nothing  that  is  of  any  consequence, 
either  to  the  purpose  of  comfort,  or  of  direction. 
The  sinner  wishes  to  know  on  which  side  of 
this  unknown  and  undetermined  limit,  his  de- 
gree of  sinfulness  is  placed.  He  v/ishes  to  know 
whether  his  offences  are  such  as  come  under  the 
operation  of  justice,  or  of  mercy, — whether  the 
one  attribute  will  exact  from  him  the  penalty,^ 
or  the  other  will  smile  on  him  connivance.     It 


SERMON  XV.  371 

is  in  vain  to  say,  that  if  he  repent  and  turn  from 
them,  mercy  will  claim  him  as  her  own,  and 
recover  him  from  the  dominion  of  justice,  and 
spread  over  all  his  sins  the  mantle  of  an  ever- 
lasting oblivion.  This  may  still  be  saying  no- 
thing,— for  the  work  of  repentance  is  a  work, 
which,  though  he  should  be  always  trying,  he 
always  fails  in ;  and  in  spite  of  his  every  exer- 
tion, there  is  a  sin  and  a  shortness  in  all  his  ser- 
vices. And  when  he  casts  his  eye  along  the 
scale  of  character,  he  sees  the  better  and  the 
worse  on  each  side  of  him ;  and  the  difficulty 
still  recurs,  how  far  down  in  the  scale  does  mercy 
extend,  or  how  far  up  on  this  scale  does  justice 
carry  its  fiery  sentence  of  condemnation.  And 
thus  it  is,  that  he  feels  no  fixed  security,  which 
he  can  lay  hold  of, — no  solid  ground  on  which  he 
can  lay  the  trust  of  his  acceptance  with  God. 
And  this  religion,  which  has  left  the  whole  pro- 
blem of  the  attributes  undetermined,  which  can 
furnish  the  sinner  with  no  light,  by  which  he 
may  be  made  to  perceive  how  justice  can  be 
displayed,  but  at  the  expense  of  mercy,  or  how 
mercy  can  be  displayed,  but  by  breaking  in  up- 
on the  entireness  of  justice;  this  hollow,  base- 
less, unsupported  system,  which,  by  mangling 
and  deforming  the  whole  aspect  of  the  Deity, 
has  virtually  left  man  without  God, — has  also,  by 
the  faint  and  twilight  obscurity,  or  rather  by  the 
midniffht  darkness  in  which  it  has  involved  the 
question  about  the  point  of  sinfulness,  at  which 


372  SERMON  XV. 

the  one  attri brute  begins  the  exercise  of  its  ri- 
gour, and  the  other  ceases  its  indulgence,  not 
only  left  man  without  God,  but  also  left  him 
without  any  solid  hope  in  the  world. 

But,  Secondly,  the  confidence  we  have  been 
attempting  to  expose,  is  hostile  to  the  cause  of 
practical  righteousness  in  the  world. 

For  what  is  the  real  and  experimental  eflfect 
of  the  obscurity  in  question  on  the  practice  of 
mankind  ?  The  question  about  our  interest 
with  God,  is  felt  to  be  unresolvable;  and,  un- 
der this  feeling,  no  genuine  attempt  is  made  to 
resolve  it.  Man  eases  himself  of  the  difficulty 
by  putting  it  away  from  him ;  and,  as  he  can- 
jjot  find  the  point  of  gradation  in  the  scale  of 
character,  on  the  one  side  of  which,  there  lies 
acceptance  with  God,  and  on  the  other  side  of 
it,  condemnation,—  he  just  upholds  himself  in 
tranquillity  at  any  one  point,  and  throughout 
every  one  variety  of  this  gradation. 

Let  the  question  only  be  put.  How  far  down, 
in  the  scale  of  character,  m^y  this  loose  system 
of  confidence  be  carried  ?  and  where  is  the  li- 
mit between  those  sins,  to  which  forgiveness 
may  be  looked  for,  and  those  sins  from  which  it  is 
withheld.'*  and  you  will  seldom  find  the  man 
who  skives  an  answer  against  himself.  The  world, 
in  fact,  is  so  much  the  home  and  the  resting- 
place  of  every  natural  man,  that  you  will  not 
get  him  so  to  press,  and  so  to  prosecute  the 
question,  as  to  come  to  any  conclusion,  that  is 


SERMON  XV.  373 

at  all  likely  to  alarm  him.  He  will  not  barter 
his  present  peace,  for  a  concern  that  looks  so 
distant  to  him  as  that  of  his  ctornitv.  The 
question  touches  but  lightly  on  his  icclings,  and 
an  answer  conceived  lightly,  and  given  lightly, 
will  be  enough  to  pacify  him.  Go  to  the  man, 
whose  decent  and  unexceptionable  proprieties 
make  him  the  admiration  of  all  his  acquaint- 
ances, and  even  he  will  allow  that  he  has  his  in- 
firmities ;  but  he  can  smother  all  his  apprehen- 
sions, and  regale  his  fancy  with  the  smile  of  an 
indulgent  God.  Take,  now,  a  descending  step 
in  the  scale  of  character;  and  do  you  think  there 
is  not  to  be  met  with  there,  the  very  same  j)ro- 
cess  of  conscious  infirmity  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  vague,  general,  and  bewildering  confidence 
on  the  other  ?  Will  the  people  of  the  lower  sta- 
tion not  do  the  very  same  thing  with  the  people 
above  them  ? — Compare  themselves  with  them- 
selves, and  find  equals  to  keep  them  in  coun- 
tenance, and  share  in  the  average  respect  that 
circulates  around  them,  and  take  comfort  in  the 
review  of  their  very  fair  and  neighbourlike  ac- 
complishments, and  with  the  allowance  of  being 
just  such  sinners  as  they  are  in  the  daily  habit 
of  associating  with,  get  all  their  remorse,  and 
all  their  gloomy  anticipations  disi)osed  of,  by 
throwing  the  whole  burden  of  them,  in  a  loose 
and  general  way,  on  the  indulgence  of  God  ^ 
And  where,  in  the  name  of  truth  and  of  right- 
eousness, will  this  stop  ?     We   can  answer  that 


.^ 


374  SERMON  XV. 

question.  It  will  not  stop  at  all.  It  will 
describe  the  whole  range  of  human  charac- 
ter ;  and  we  challenge  you  to  put  your  fingei^ 
on  that  point  where  it  is  to  terminate,  ot 
to  find  out  the  place  where  a  barrier  is  to  be 
raised,  against  the  progress  of  this  mischiev- 
ous security.  It  will  go  downwards  and 
downwards,  till  it  come  to  the  very  verge  of  the 
malefactor's  dungeon.  Nay,  it  will  enter  there; 
and  we  doubt  not  that  an  enlightened  discerner 
may  witness,  even  in  this  receptacle  of  out- 
casts, the  operation  of  the  very  sentiment,  which 
gives  such  peace  and  such  buoyancy  to  him, 
whose  moral  accomplishments  throw  around  / 
him  the  lustre  of  a  superior  estimation.  But 
this  lustre  will  not  impose  on  the  eye  of  God. 
The  Discerner  of  the  heart  sees  that  one  and 
all  of  us  are  alienated  from  him,  and  strangers 
to  the  obligation  of  his  high  and  spiritual  re- 
quirements. He  declares  the  name  of  Christ 
to  b6  the  only  one  given  under  heaven,  where- 
by m6n  can  be  saved ;  and  after  this,  every  act 
of  confidence,  disowning  his  name,  is  an  ex- 
pression of  the  most  insulting  impiety.  On  the 
system  of  general  confidence,  every  man  is  left 
to  sin  just  as  much  as  he  likes,  and  to  take 
comfort  just  as  much  as  his  powers  of  de- 
lusion can  administer  to  him.  At  this  rate, 
the  government  of  God  is  unhinged, — the 
whole  earth  is  broken  loose  from  the  system  of 
his  administration, — he  is  deposed  from  his  su- 


SERMON  XV.  37., 

premacy  altogether,— peace,  when  there  is  no 
peace,  spreads  its  deadly  poison  over  the  lacc 
of  society,— and  one  sentiment,  of  deep  an<i  ^'a- 
tal  tranquillity  about  the  things  of  God,  takee 
up  its  firm  residence  in  a  world,  which,  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  it,  sends  up  the  cry  of  rebel- 
lion against  him. 

This  is  a  sore  evil.  The  want  of  a  fixed  and 
clearly  perceptible  line  between  the  justice  and 
placabiUty  of  the  divine  nature,  not  only  buries 
in  utter  darkness  the  question  of  our  «icce|)tance 
with  God ;  but,  by  throwing  every  thing  loose 
and  undetermined,  it  opens  up  the  range  of  a 
most  lawless  and  uncontrolled  impunity  for  th(^ 
disobedience  of  man,  up  from  its  gentler  de- 
viations, and  down  to  its  most  profligate  and 
daring  excesses.  If  there  be  no  intelligible  line 
to  separate  the  exercise  of  the  justice  of  God 
from  the  exercise  of  his  placability,  every  indi- 
vidual will  fix  this  line  for  himself;  and  he  will 
make  these  two  attributes  to  be  yea  and  nay,  or 
fast  and  loose  with  each  other;  and  he  will 
stretch  out  the  placability,  and  he  will  press 
upon  the  justice,  just  as  much  as  to  accommo- 
date the  standard  of  his  religious  principles  to  the 
state  of  his  religious  practice  ;  and  he  ^^  ill  make 
every  thing  to  square  with  his  own  existing  taste, 
and  wishes,  and  convenience;  and  his  mind 
will  soon  work  its  own  way  to  a  system  ol 
religious  opinions  which  gives  him  no  disturb- 
ance ;    and  the  spirit  of  a  deep  slunibrr  will  loy 


37Q  SERMON  XV.  ^ 

hold  of  his  deluded  conscience  ;  and  thus,  from 
the  want  of  a  setded  line, — from  the  vague,  am- 
biguous, and  indefinite  way  in  which  this  mat- 
ter is  taken  up,  and  brought  to  a  very  loose  and 
general  conclusion, — or,  in  other  words,  from 
that  very  way  in  which  natural  reUgion,  whether 
among  deists,  or  our  more  slender  professors  of 
Christianity,  leaves  the  whole  question,   about 
the  limit  of  the  attributes,  unentered  upon, — 
will  every  man  take  comfort  in  the  imagined 
tenderness  of  God,  just  as  much  as  he  stands  in 
need  of  it,  and  experiment  on  the  patience  of 
God  just  as  far  as  his  natural  desires  may  carry 
him, — so  that  when  we  look  to  the  men  of  the 
world,  as  they  pass  smoothly  onward,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  do  we  see  each  of  them  in  a 
state  of  profound  security  as  to  his  interest  with 
God  ;  each  of  them  solacing  himself  with  his  own 
conception  about  the  slenderness  of  his  guilt, 
and  the  kindness  of  an  indulgent  Deity ;  each 
of  them  in  a  state  of  false  and  fancied   peace 
with  Heaven,  while  every  affection  of  the  inner 
man,  and  many  of  the  doings  of  the  outer  man, 
bear  upon  them  the  stamp  of  rebellion  against 
Heaven's  law ;  each  of  them  walking  without 
uneasiness,  and   without  terror,   while,  at  the 
same  time,  each  and  all  of  them  do  in  fact  walk 
in  the  counsel  of  their  own  hearts,  and  after  the 
sight  of  their  own  eyes. 


SERMON  XVL 

THE  UNION  OF  TRUTH  AND  MERCY  IN  THE  GOSPEL. 


Psalm  lxxxv.  10. 


"  Mercy  and  truth  are  met  together ;  righteousness  and 
peace  have  kissed  each  other." 

It  was  not  by  a  simple  deed  of  amnesty,  that 
man  was  invited  to  return  and  be  at  peace  with 
God.  It  was  by  a  deed  of  expiation.  It  was  not 
by  nullifying  the  sanctions  of  the  law,  that  man 
was  offered  a  free  and  a  full  discharge  from  the 
penalties  he  had  incurred  by  breaking  it.  It  was 
by  executing  l^ese  sanctions  on  another,  who 
voluntarily  took  them  upon  himself,  and  \\  ho,  in 
so  doing,  magnified  the  law,  and  made  it  honour- 
able. To  redeem  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
Christ  became  a  curse  for  us.  It  was  not  by 
God  lifting  off  our  iniquities  from  our  persons, 
and  scattering  them  away  into  a  region  of  forget- 
fulness,  without  one  demonstration  of  his  abhor- 
rence, and  without  the  fulfilment  of  his  threat- 
enings  against  them  ;  but  lifting  them  off  from  us, 
he  laid  them  on  another,  who  bare,  in  his  oun 
person,  the   punishment  that  we  should   have 

48 


578  SERMON  XVr. 

borne.  God  laid  upon  his  own  Son  the  iniqui- 
ties of  us  all.  The  guilt  of  our  sins  is  not  done 
away  by  a  mere  axt  of  forgiveness.  It  is 
washed  away  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  God 
set  him  forth  a  propitiation.  He  was  smitten 
for  our  transgressions.  He  gave  himself  for 
us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God.  The 
system  of  the  gospel  no  more  expunges  the 
attribute  of  mercy  from  the  character  of  the 
Godhead,  than  it  expunges  the  attributes  of 
truth  and  righteousness.  But  all  the  mercy 
which  it  offers  and  proclaims  to  a  guilty  world, 
is  the  mercy  which  flows  upon  it  through  the 
channel  of  that  Mediatorship,  by  wliich  his  truth 
and  his  justice  have  been  asserted  and  vindi- 
cated ;  and,  while  it  reveals  to  us  the  openness 
of  this  channel,  it  also  reveals  to  us  that  every 
other  which  the  heart  of  man  may  conceive,  is 
shut,  and  intercepted,  and  utterly  impassable. 
There  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven, 
whereby  man  can  be  saved,  but  the  name  of  him 
who  poured  out  his  soul  unto  the  death  for  us. 
Without  the  shedding  of  his  blood,  there  cauld 
have  been  no  remission.  And  he  who  hath  not 
the  Son,  hath  the  wrath  of  God  abiding  on  him. 
It  is  due  to  our  want  of  moral  sensibility, 
that  sin  looks  so  light  and  so  trivial  in  our  esti- 
mation. We  have  no  adequate  feeling  of  its 
malignity,  of  its  exceeding  sinfulness.  And,  li- 
able as  we  are  to  think  of  God,  that  he  is  alto- 
gether like  unto  ourselves,  do  we  think  that  he 


SERMON  XVI.  379 

-may  cancel  our  guilt  as  easily  from  the  book  of 
his  condemnation,  bj  an  act  of  forgiveness,  as 
we  cancel  it  from  our  own  memory,  by  an  acl 
of  forgetfulness.  But  God  takes  his  own  way, 
and  most  steadfastly  asserts,  throughout  the 
whole  process  of  our  recovery,  the  preroga- 
tives of  his  own  truth,  and  his  own  righteous- 
ness. He  so  loved  the  world,  as  to  send  his 
Son  to  it,  not  to  condemn,  but  to  save.  But 
he  will  not  save  us  in  such  a  way  as  to  con- 
firm our  light  estimation  of  sin,  or  to  let  down 
the  worth  and  the  dignity  of  his  own  character. 
The  method  of  our  salvation  is  not  left  to  the 
random  caprices  of  human  thought,  and  human 
fancy.  It  is  a  method  devised  for  us  by  un- 
searchable wisdom,  and  made  known  to  us  by 
fixed  and  unalterable  truth,  and  prescribed  to 
us  by  a  supreme  authority,  which  has  debarred 
every  other  method;  and  though  we  may  be- 
hold no  one  feature,  either  of  greatness  or  of 
beauty  to  admire  in  it — yet  do  angels  admire  it; 
and  to  accomplish  it,  did  the  Son  of  God  move 
from  the  residence  of  his  glory;  and  all  heaven 
appears  to  have  laboured  with  the  magnitude 
and  the  mystery  of  the  great  undertaking;  aud 
along  the  whole  tract  of  revelation,  from  the 
first  age  of  the  world,  do  we  behold  the  notices 
of  the  coming  atonement;  and  while  man  sits  at 
his  ease,  and  can  see  nothing  to  move  hiin 
either  to  gratitude  or  to  wonder,  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  that  mighty  scheme,  by  which  mercy  and 


380  SERMON  XVI. 

truth  have  been  made  to  meet  together,  and 
righteousness  and  peace  to  kiss  each  other, — it 
is  striking  to  mark  the  place  and  the  prominency 
which  are  given  to  it,  in  the  counsels  .of  the 
Eternal.  And  it  might  serve  to  put  us  right, 
and  to  rebuke  the  levities  which  are  so  cur- 
rently afloat  in  this  dead  and  darkened  world, 
did  we  only  look  at  the  stress  that  is  laid  on 
this  great  work,  throughout  the  whole  of  its  pre- 
paration and  its  performance, — and  how  to  bring 
it  to  its  accomplishment,  the  Father  had  to  send 
the  Son  into  the  world, — and  to  throw  a  veil 
over  his  glory, — and  to  put  the  cup  of  our  chas- 
tisement into  his  hand, — and  to  bid  the  sword  of 
righteous  vengeance  awake  against  his  fellow,— 
and,  that  he  might  clear  a  way  of  access  to  a 
guilty  world,  had  to  do  it  through  the  blood  of 
an  everlasting  covenant,— and  to  lay  the  full 
burden  of  our  atonement  on  the  head  of  the 
innocent  sufferer,— and  to  endure  the  spectacle 
of  his  bitterness,  and  his  agonies,  and  his  tears, 
till  he  cried  out  that  it  was  finished,  and  so 
bowed  himself  and  gave  up  the  ghost. 

Man  is  blind  to  the  necessity,  but  God  sees  it. 
The  prayer  of  Christ  in  his  agony  was,  that  the 
cup,  if  possible,  might  be  removed  from  him. 
But  it  was  not  possible.  He  could  have  called 
twelve  legions  of  angels,  and  they  would  have 
eagerly  flown  to  rescue  their  beloved  Lord  from 
the  hands  of  his  persecutors.     But  he  knew 


SERMON  XVI.  381 

that  the  Scripture  must  be  fulfilled,  and  they 
looked  on  in  silent  forbearance.  It  behoved  him 
to  undergo  all  this.  And  there  was  a  need,  and 
a  propriety,  why  he  should  suffer  all  these  things, 
ere  he  entered  into  his  glory. 

We  shall  offer  three  distinct  remarks  on  this 
method  of  our  redemption,  in  order  to  prove 
that  it  fulfils  the  whole  assertion  of  our  text, 
that  it  has  made  mercy  and  truth  to  meet  to- 
gether, and  righteousness  and  peace  to  kiss 
each  other. 

First,  it  maintains  the  entireness  and  glory 
of  all  the  attributes  of  the  Godhead.  Secondly, 
it  provides  a  solid  foundation  for  the  peace  of 
every  sinner  who  concurs  in  it.  And,  thirdly, 
it  strengthens  all  the  securities  for  the  cause  of 
practical  righteousness  among  men. 

I.  In  d^feness,  as  we  are,  about  the  glory  and 
character  of  the  Supreme  Being,  it  would  offer 
a  violence  even  to  our  habitual  conceptions  of 
him,  to  admit  of  any   limit,  or  any  deduction 
from  the  excellencies  of  his  nature.     We  should 
even  think  it  a  lessening  of  the  Deity,  were 
the  extent  of  his  perfections  such,  as  that  we 
should  be  able  to  grasp  them  within  the  com- 
prehension of  our  understandings.     The   pro- 
perty of  chiefest  admiration  to  his  creatures  is, 
that  they  know  but  a  part,  and  are  not  aware 
how  small  a  part  that  is,  to  what  is  unknown ; 
and  never  is  their  obeisance  more  lowly,  than 
when  under  the  sense  of  a  greatness  that  is  un- 


382  SERMON  XVL 

defined  and  unsearchable,  they  feel  themselves 
baffled  bj  the  infinitude  of  the  Creator.  It  is 
not  his  power  as  attested  by  all  that  exists  within 
the  limits  of  actual  discovery;  but  his  power,  as 
conceived  to  form  and  uphold  a  universe,  whose 
outskirts  are  unknown. — It  is  not  his  wisdom,  as 
exhibited  in  what  has  been  seen  by  human  eye ; 
but  his  wisdom,  as  pervading  the  unnuHnbered 
secrecies  of  a  mechanism,  which  no  eye  can 
penetrate. — It  is  not  his  knowledge,  as  displayed 
in  the  greater  and  prophetic  outlines  of  the  his- 
tory of  this  world ;  but  his  knowledge,  as  em- 
bracing all  the  mazes  of  creation,  and  all  the 
mighty  periods  of  eternity. — It  is  not  his  anti- 
quity, as  prior  to  all  that  is  visible,  and  as  reach- 
ing far  above  and  beyond  the  remote  infancy 
of  nature;  but  his  antiquity,  as  retiring  up- 
wards from  the  loftiest  ascent  of  our  imagina- 
tions, and  lost  in  the  viewless  depths  (jf^an  ex- 
istence, that  was  from  everlasting. — These  are 
what  serve  to  throne  the  Deity  in  grandeur  in- 
accessible. It  IS  the  thought  of  what  eye  hath 
not  seen,  and  ear  hath  not  heard,  neither  hath 
it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive, 
that  places  him  on  such  a  height  of  mystery 
before  us.  And  should  we  ever  be  able  to 
overtake,  in  thought,  the  dimensions  of  any 
attribute  that  belongs  to  him, — and  far  more 
should  we  ever  be  able  to  outstrip,  in  fancy,  a 
single  feature  of  that  character  which  is  realised 
hy  the  living  and  reigning,  God — should    defect 


SERMON  XVI.  383 

orimpotency  attach  to  him  who  dwelleth  in  tin; 
•light  which  no  man  can  approach  unto,  would 
we  feel  as  if  all  our  most  rooted  and  accustomed 
conceptions  of  the  Godhead  had  sustained  an 
overthrow,  would  we  feel  as  if  the  sanctuary  of 
him  who  is  the  King  eternal  and  invisible  had 
suffered  violence. 

And  this  isjust  as  true  of  the  moral  as  of  the  na- 
tural attributes  of  the  Godhead.  When  we  think 
of  his  truth,  it  is  a  truth  which,  if  heaven  and  earth 
stan(J  committed  to  the  fulfilment  of  its  minutest 
article,  heaven  and  earth  must,  for  its  vindica- 
tion, pass  awaj.     When  we  think  of  his  holiness, 
it  is  such  that,  if  sin  offer  to  draw  nigh,  a  devour- 
ing fire  goeth  forth  to  burn  up  and  to  destroy  it. 
When  we  think  of  his  law,  it  is  a  law  which  must 
be  made  honourable,  even  though,  by  the  en- 
forcement of  its  sanctions,  it  shall  sweep  into 
an  abyss  of  misery  all  the  generations  of  the  re- 
bellious.    And  yet  this  God,  just,  and  righteous, 
and  true,  is  a  God  of  love,   and  of  compassion, 
infinite.     He  is   slow  to  anger,   and  of  great 
mercy.     He  does  not  afflict  willingly ;  and  as  a 
father  rejoices  over   his  children,  does  he  long 
to  rejoice  in  tenderness  over  us   all ;  and  out  of 
the  storehouse  of  a  grace  that  is  inexhaustible, 
does  he  deal  out  the  offers  of  pardon  and  re- 
conciliation to  every  one  of  us.     Even  in  some 
way  or  other  does  the  love  of  God  for  his  crea- 
tures find  its  way  through  the  barrier  of  their 
sinfulness  ;  and  he  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  Uj 


384  SERMON  XVL 

behold  iniquity, — he  who  hath  spoken  the  word, 
and  shall  he  not  perform  it, — he  of  whose  law  • 
it  has  been  said,  that  not  one  jot,  or  one  tittle  of 
it,  shall  pass  away,  till  all  be  fulfilled,  he  holds 
out  the  overtures  of  friendship  to  the  children 
of  disobedience,  and  invites  the  guiltiest  among 
them  to  the  light  of  his  countenance,  in  time, 
and  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  glory  and  presence, 
in  eternity. 

There  is  no  one  device  separate  from  the 
gospel,  by  which  the  glory  of  any  one  of  these 
attributes  can  be  exalted,  but  by  the  surrender 
or  the  limitation  of  another  attribute.  It  is  in  the 
gospel  alone  that  we  perceive  how  each  of  them 
may  be  heightened  to  infinity,  and  yet  each  of 
them  reflect  a  lustre  on  the  rest.  When  Christ 
died,  justice  was  magnified.  When  he  bore  the 
burden  of  our  atonement,  the  truth  of  God  re- 
ceived its  vindication.  When  the  sins  of  the 
world  brought  him  to  the  cross,  the  lesson 
taught  by  this  impressive  spectacle  was^  holiness 
unto  the  Lord.  All  the  severer  perfections  of 
the  Godhead  were,  in  fact,  more  powerfully  il- 
lustrated by  the  deep  and  solemn  propitiation 
that  was  made  for  sin,  than  they  could  have 
been  by  the  direct  punishment  of  sin  itself, — 
Yet  all  redounding  to  the  triumph  of  his  mer- 
cy,— For  mercy,  in  the  exersice  of  a  simple  and 
spontaneous  tenderness,  does  not  make  so  high 
an  exhibition,  as  mercy  forcing  its  way  through 
restraints  and   difficulties, — as   mercy  accom- 


SERMON  XVI.  385 

plishingits  purposes  by  a  plan  of  unsearchable 
wisdom,— as  mercy  surrendering  what  was  most 
dear  for  the  attainment  of  its  object,— as  the 
mercy  of  God,  not  simply  loving  the  world,  but 
so  loving  it  as  to  send  his  only  beloved  Son, 
and  to  lay  upon  him  the  iniquities  of  us  all, — 
as  mercy,  thus  surmounting  a  barrier  which,  to 
created  eye,  appeared  immoveable,  and  which 
both  pours  a  glory  on  the  other  excellencies  of 
the  Godhead,  and  rejoices  over  them. 

It  is  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  has 
poured  the  light  of  day  into  all  the  intricacies 
of  this   contemplation.     We  there  see  no  com- 
promise, and  no  surrender,  of  the  attributes  to 
each  other.     We   see  no   mutual  encroachment 
on  their  respective  provinces, — no  letting  down 
of  that  entire  and  absolute  perfection  whicii  be- 
longs to  every  part  in  the  character  of  the  God- 
head. The  justidie  of  God  has  not  been  invaded  ; 
for  by  him,  who  poured  out  his  soul  unto  the 
death  for  us,  has  the  whole  weight  of  this  ag- 
grieved and  offended  attribute  been  borne  ;  and 
from  that  cross  of  agony,  where  he  cried  out 
that  it  was  finished,  does  the  divine  Justice  send 
forth  a  brighter  and  a  nobler  radiance  of  vindi- 
cated majesty,  than  if  the  minister  of  vengeance 
had  crone  forth,  and  wreaked  the  whole  sentence 
of  condemnation  on   every   son   and  dauo^jner 
of  the  species.     And  as  the  justice  of  God  has 
suffered  no  encroachment,  so,  such  is  the  admi- 
rable skilfulness  of  this  expedient,  that  the  mer- 

49 


386^  SERMON  XVI. 

cy  of  God  is  restrained  by  no  limitation.  It  is 
arrested  in  its  offers  by  no  question  about  the 
shades,  and  the  degrees,  and  the  varieties  of 
sinfulness.  It  stops  at  no  point  in  the  de- 
scending scale  of  human  depravity.  The  blood 
of  Christ  cleasing  from  all  sin,  has  spread  such 
a  field  for  its  invitations,  that  in  the  full  confi- 
dence of  a  warranted  and  universal  commission, 
may  the  messengers  of  grace  walk  over  the  face 
of  the  world,  and  lay  the  free  gift  of  accept- 
ance at  the  door  of  every  individual,  and  of 
every  family.  Such  is  the  height,  and  depth, 
and  breadth,  and  length,  of  the  mercy  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  yet  it  is  a  mercy  so  exer- 
cised, as  to  keep  the  whole  counsel  and  charac- 
ter of  God  unbroken, — and  a  mercy,  from  the 
display  of  which,  there  beams  a  brighter  radi- 
ance than  ever  from  each  lineament  in  the 
image  of  the  Godhead. 

Now,  if  the  glory  of  God  be  so  involved  in 
this  way  of  redemption,  what  shall  we  think  of 
the  disparagement  that  is  rendered  to  him,  and 
to  all  his  attributes,  by  the  man  who,  without 
respect  to  the  work  and  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  seeks  to  be  justified  by  his  own  right- 
eousness ?  It  is  quite  possible  for  man  to  toil  and 
to  waste  his  strength  on  the  object  of  his  salva- 
tion, and  yet,  by  all  he  can  make  out,  may  be 
only  widening  his  laborious  deviation  from  the 
path  which  leads  to  it.  Do  his  uttermost  to 
establish  a  righteousness  of  his  own,  and  what  is 


SERMON  XVL  387 

the  whole  fruit  of  his  exertion  ? — the  mere  sem- 
blance of  righteousness,  without  the  infusion  of 
its  essential  quality, — labour  without  love, — the 
drudgery  of  the  hand,  without  the  desire  and 
devotedness  of  the  heart,  as  its  inspiring  princi- 
ple.    If  the  man  be  dissatisfied,   as  he  certainly 
ought  to  be,  then  a  sense  of  unexpiated  guilt 
will  ever  and  anon  intrude  itself  upon  his  fears; 
and  a  resistless  conviction  of  the  insufRciency 
of  all   his   performances   will   never  ceqse   to 
haunt  and  to  paralyze  him.    In  these   circum- 
stances, there  may  be  the  conformity  of  the  let- 
ter extorted  from  him,  in  the  spirit  of  bondage; 
but  the  animating  soul  is  not  there,  which  turn* 
obedience  into  a  service  of  delight,  and  a  ser- 
vice of  affection.     In   Heaven's  account,  such 
obedience  as  this  is  but  the  mockery  of  a  life- 
less skeleton ;  and,  even  as  a  skeleton,  it  is  both 
wanting  in  its  parts,  and  unshapely  in  its  pro- 
portions.    It  is  an  obedience  defective,  even  in 
the    tale  and  measure  of  its 'external  duties. 
But  what  pervades  the  whole  of  it  by  the  ele- 
ment of  worthlessness  is,  that,  destitute  of  love 
to  God,  it  is  utterly  destitute  of  a  celestial  cha- 
racter, and  can  never  prepare  an  inhabitant  of 
this  world  for  the  joys  or  the  services  of  die 
great  celestial  family. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  man  be  saus- 
fied,  this  very  circumstance  gives  to  the  right- 
eousness that  he  would  establish  for  himsrh,  the 
character  of  an  insult  upon  God,  instead  ol  a 


588  SERMON  XVI. 

reverential  offering.     It  is  a  righteousness  ac- 
companied with  a  certain  measure  of  confident 
feeling,  that  it  is  good  enough  for  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Lawgiver.     There  is  in  it  the  au- 
dacity of  a  claim  and  a  challenge  upon  his  ap- 
probation.    Short  as  it  is,  in  respect  of  outward 
performance,   and  tainted   within  by  the  very 
spirit  of  earthliness,  it  is  brought  like  a  lame 
and  diseased  victim  in  sacrifice,  and  laid  upon 
the  altar  before  him.     It  is  an  evil  and  a  bitter 
thing  to  sin  against  God  ;  but  it  is  a  still  more 
direct  outrage   upon  his   attributes,    to   expect 
that  he  will  look  on  sinfulness  w  ith  complacen- 
cy.    It  is  an  open  defiance  to  the  law,  to  trample 
upon  its  requirements ;  but  it  were  a  still  dead- 
lier overthrow  of  its  authority,   to  reverse  its 
sanctions,  and  make   it  turn    its    threatenings 
into  rewards.      The  sinner  who  disobeys  and 
trembles,   renders  at  least   the  homage  of  his 
fears  to  the   truth  and  power  of  the  Eternal. 
But  the  sinner  who  makes  a  righteousness  of 
his  infirmities,  and  puts  a  gloss  upon  his  diso- 
bedience, and  brings  the  accursed  thing  to  the 
gate  of  the  sanctuary,  and  bids  the  piercing  eye 
of  Omniscience  look  upon  it,  and  be  satisfied, — 
tell  us  whether  the  fire  which  cometh  forth  will 
burn  up  the  offering,  that  it  may  rise  in  sweetly 
smelling  savour  to  him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne ; 
or   will   it   seize    on   the  presumptuous  offerer, 
who  could  thus  dare  the  inspection,  and  thrust 


SERMON  XVI.  889 

his  unprepared  footstep  within  the  precincts  of 
unspotted  holiness  ? 

And  how  must  it  go  to  aggravate  tlic  oiTcnce 
of  such  an  approach,  when  it  is  made  in  the 
face  of  another  righteousness  which  God  him- 
self hath  provided,  and  in  which  alone  he  hath 
proclaimed,  that  it  is  safe  for  a  sinner  to  draw 
nigh.     When  the  alternative  is  fairly  proj)osed, 
to  come  on  the  merit  of  your   own  obedience 
and  be  tried  by  it,  or  to  come  on  the  merit  of 
the  obedience   of  Christ,  and   receive  in  your 
own  person  the  reward  which  he  hath  purchased 
for  you, — only  think  of  the  aspect  it  must  bear 
in   the  eye  of  Heaven,    when  the  offer  of  the 
perfect     righteousness    is    contemptuously    set 
aside,  and  the  sinner  chooses  to  appear  in  his 
own  character  before  the  presence  of  the  Eter- 
nal.    When  the  imputation  of  vanity  and  use- 
lessness  is  thus  fastened  on  all  that  the  Son  hath 
done,  and  on  all  that  the  Father  hath  devised, 
for  the  redemption  of  the   guilty, — when    that 
righteousness,  to  accomplish  which  Christ  had 
to  travail  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,  is  thus 
held  to  be  nothing,  by  creatures  v\  hose  every 
thought,  and  every  performance,  have  the  stain 
of  corruption  in  them — when  that  doctrine  of 
his  death,  on  which,  in  the  book  of  God's  coun- 
sel, is  made  to  turn  the  deliverance  of  our  world, 
is  counted  to  be  foohshness, — when  the  sinner 
thus  persists  in  obtruding  his  own  virtue  on  the 
notice  of  the  Lawgiver,  and  refuses  to  ])ut  on,  af 


390  SERMON  XVI. 

a  covering  of  defence,  the  virtue  of  his  Saviour, 
— we  have  only  to  contrast  the  lean  shrivelled 
paltry  dimensions  of  the  one,  with  the  faultless, 
and  sustained,  and  Godlike  perfection  of  the 
other,  to  perceive  how  desperate  is  the  folly, 
and  how  unescapeable  is  the  doom,  of  him  who 
hath  neglected  the  great  salvation. 

It  is  thus  that  the  refusal  of  Christ,  as  our 
righteousness,  stamps  a  deeper  and  a  more  atro- 
cious character  of  rebellion  on  the  guilty  than 
before, — and  it  is  thus  that  the  word  of  his 
mouth,  like  a  two-edged  sword,  performs  one 
function  on  him  who  accepts,  and  an  opposite 
function  on  him  who  despises  it.  If  the  gospel 
be  not  the  savour  of  life  unto  life,  it  will  be  the 
savour  of  death  unto  death.  If  it  be  not  a  rock 
of  confidence,  it  will  be  a  rock  of  offence,  and  it 
will  fall  upon  him  who  resists  it,  and  grind  him 
into  powder.  If  we  kiss  not  the  Son,  in  the  day 
of  our  peace,  the  day  of  his  wrath  is  coming, 
and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand  when  his  anger  is 
kindled  but  a  litde  ?  We  have  already  offended 
God,  by  the  sinfulness  of  our  practice,— we  may 
yet  offend  him  still  more,  by  the  haughtiness  of 
our  pretensions.  The  evil  of  our  best  works 
consdtutes  them  an  abomination  in  his  sight; 
but  nothing  remains  to  avert  the  hosulity  of  his 
truth  and  his  holiness  against  us,  if  by  those 
works  we  seek  to  be  justified.  It  will  indeed  be 
the  seaUng  up  of  our  iniquity,  if  our  obedience, 
impregnated  as  it  is  with  the  very  spirit  of  that 


SERMON  XVI.  391 

iniquity,  shall  be  set  up  in  rivalship  to  the  obe- 
dience of  his  only  and  well  beloved  Son, — if,  by 
viewing  the  defect  of  our  ri^hieousness,  as  a 
thing  of  indifference,  and  the  fulness  of  his,  as 
a  thing  of  no  value,  we  shall  heap  insult  upon 
transgression, — and  if,  after  the  provocation  of 
a  broken  law,  we  shall  maintain  the  boastful  at- 
titude of  him  who  hath  won  the  merit  and  the 
reward  of  victory,  and  in  this  attitude  add  the 
farther  provocation  of  a  slighted  and  rejected 
gospel. 

II.  We  shall  conclude,  for  the  present,  these 
brief  and  imperfect  remarks,  by  adverting  to  the 
solidity  of  that  foundation  of  peace,  w  hich  the 
gospel  scheme  of  mercy  provides  for  every  sin- 
ner who  concurs  in  it.     It  is  altogether  worthy 
of  observation,  how,  under  this  exquisite  con- 
trivance, the  very  elements  of  disquietude,  in 
a  sinner's  bosom,  are  turned  into  the  elements 
of  comfort  and  confidence,  in  the  mind  of  a 
believer.     It  is  the  unswei-ving  tmth   of  God, 
which  haunts   the  former  by   the   thought  of 
lite  certainty  of  his  coming  vengeance.     Bui 
this  very  truth,   committed  to    the   fulfilment 
of   all    those   promises,   which    are   yea    and 
amen  in  Christ  Jesus,    sustains    the   latter  by 
the  thought  of  the    certainty    of  his  coming 
salvation.      It    is    justice,    unbending  justice, 
which  sets  such  a  seal  on  the  condemnation  ol 
the  disobedient,  that  every  sinner,  who  is  out  ol 
Christ,  feels  it  to  be  irrevocable.     In  Christ, 


392  SERMON  XVL 

this  attribute,  instead  of  a  terror,  becomes  a  se- 
curity;  for  it  is  just  in  God  to  justify  him  who 
believes  in  Jesus.     It  is  the  sense  of  God's  vio- 
lated   authority,   which  fills    the   heart  of   an 
awakened  sinner  with  the  fear  that  he  is  undone. 
But  this  authority,  under  the  gospel  proclama- 
tion, is  leagued  on  the  side  of  comfort,  and  not 
of  fear;  for  this  is  the  commandment  of  God, 
that  we  believe  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  he  has  given  us  commandment.     It  is 
not  by  an  act  of  mercy,   triumphing  over  the 
other  attributes,  that  pardon  is  extended  to  the 
sinful ;  for,  under  the  economy  of  the  gospel, 
these  attributes  are  all   engaged  on  the  side  of 
mercy ;  and  God  is  not  only  merciful,  but  he  is 
faithful  and  just  in  forgiving  the  sins  of  those 
who  accept  of  Christ,  as  he  is  offered  to  them 
in  the  gospel.     Those  very   perfections,  then, 
which  fix  and  necessitate  the  doom  of  the  re- 
bellious, form  into  a  canopy  of  defence  around 
the  head  of  the  believer.     The  guarantees  of  a 
sinner's  punishment  now  become  the  guaran- 
tees of  promise;  and  while,  like   the  flaming 
sword  at  the  gate  of  paradise,  they  turn  every 
way,  and  shut  him  out  of  every  access  to  the 
Deity  but  one, — let  him  take  to  that  one,  and  they 
instandy  become  to  him  the  sureties  and  the 
safeguard  of  that  hiding-place  into  which  he 
has  entered. 

The  foundation,  then,  of  a  believer's  peace, 
is,  in  every  way,  as  sure  and  as  solid  as  is  the 


SERMON  XVI.  393 

foundation  of  a  sinner's  fears.  The  very  tniili 
which  makes  the  one  tremble,  because  staked 
to  the  execution  of  an  unruUiUed  tlireat,  mini- 
sters to  the  other  the  strongest  consolation.  It 
is  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  says  an  a\vak(  ncd 
sinner,  and  this  thought  pursues  him  with  the 
agony  of  an  arrow  sticking  fast.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  God  to  lie,  says  a  behever;  and  as 
he  hath  not  only  said  but  sworn,  tiiere  are  two 
immutable  things  by  which  to  anchor  the  con- 
fidence of  him,  wlio  hath  fled  for  refuge  to 
the  hope  set  before  him.  He  staggers  not  at 
the  promises  of  God,  because  of  unl)clicf.  He 
holds  himself  steadfast,  by  simply  counting  him 
to  be  faithful  who  hath  promised.  It  is  through 
that  very  faith,  by  being  strong  in  which  he 
gives  glory  to  God,  that  he  gains  peace  to  his 
own  heart;  and  the  justice  which  beams  a  ter- 
ror on  all  who  stand  without,  utterly  passes  by 
the  shielded  head  of  him,  who  hath  turned  to 
the  strong  hold,  and  taken  a  place  under  the 
shadow  of  his  wings,  who  hath  satisfied  the  jus- 
tice of  God,  and  taken  upon  himself  the  burden 
of  its  fullest  vindication. 


iO 


SERMON  XVn. 

THE    PURIFYING   INFLUENCE   OF    THE   CHRISTIAN 
FAITH, 


Acts  xxvi.  18. 
**  Sanctified  by  faith.'- 

III.  It  is  a  matter  of  direct  and  obvious  un- 
derstanding, how  the  law,  by  its  promises  and 
its  threatenings,  should  exert  and  influence  over 
human  conduct.  We  seem  to  walk  in  a  plain 
path,  when  we  pass  onwards  from  the  enforce- 
ments of  the  law,  to  the  effect  of  them  on  the 
fears,  and  the  hopes,  and  the  purposes  of  man. 
Do  this,  and  you  shall  Hve ;  and  do  the  oppo- 
site of  this,  and  you  shall  forfeit  life, — form  two 
clear  and  distinct  processes,  in  the  conceiving 
of  which,  there  is  no  difficulty  whatever.  The 
motive  and  the  movement  both  stand  intelli- 
gibly out  to  the  discernment  of  common  sense  ; 
nor  in  the  application  of  such  argument  as  this, 
to  the  design  of  operating  on  the  character  or 
life  of  a  human  being,  is  there  any  mystery  to 


SERMON  XVII.  395 

embarrass,  any  hidden  step,  which,  by  baftVmg 
our  every  attempt  to  seize  upon  it,  leaves  us  in 
a  state  of  helpless  perplexity. 

The  same  is  not  true  of  the  gospel,  or  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  operates  on  the  spring's  of 
human  action.     It  is  not  so  readily  seen,  how 
its  privileges  can  be  appropriated  by  faitli,  and 
at  the  same  time  its   precepts  can  retain   their 
practical  authority  over  the  conduct  of  a   be- 
liever.   There  is  an  alarm,  and  an  honest  alarm, 
on  the  part  of  many,  lest  a  proclamation  of  free 
grace  unto  the  world,  should  undermine  all  our 
securities  for  the  cause  of  righteousness  in  the 
world.     They  look  with  jealousy  upon  the  frcc- 
ness.  They  fear  lest  a  deed  so  am])Ie  and  luicon- 
ditional,  of  forgiveness  for  the  past,  should  give 
rise,  in  the  heart  of  a  sinner,  to  a  secure  opinion 
of  his  impunity  for  the  future.    What  they  dread 
is,  that  to  proclaim  such  a  freeness  of  paidon  on 
the  part  of  God,  w  ould  be  to  proclaim  a  cor- 
responding  freeness  of   practice   on  the    part 
of  man.      They  are  able  to  comprehend  how 
the   law,     by    its   direct   enforcements,   should 
operate  in  keeping  men  from  sin  ;    but  they  are 
not  able  to  comprehend  how,  when  not  under 
the  law,  but  under  grace,  there  should  continue 
the  same  motives  to  abstain  from  sin,  as  those 
intelligible  ones  which  the  law  furnishes,,  or 
even   other  motives,  of  more  powerful  oj)era- 
tion.     We  are  quite  sure,   that  there  is  some- 
thing here  which  needs  to  be  made  plain  to  tJie 


396  SERMON  XVII. 

understandings  of  a  very  numerous  class  of 
inquirers, — a  knot  of  difficulty  which  needs  to 
be  untied, — a  hidden  step  in  the  process  of  ex- 
planation, on  which  they  may  firmly  pass  from 
what  is  known  to  what  is  unknown.  There  are 
not  two  terms,  in  the  whole  compass  of  human 
language,  which  stand  more  frequently  and 
more  familiarly  contrasted  wdth  each  other,  than 
those  of  faith  and  good  works ;  and  this,  not 
merely  on  the  question  of  our  acceptance  before 
God,  but  also  on  the  question  of  the  personal 
character  and  acquirements  of  a  true  disciple  of 
Christ.  It  is  positively  not  seen,  how  the  pos- 
session of  the  one  should  at  all  stimulate  to  the 
performance  of  the  other, — how  the  peace  of 
the  gospel  should  reside  in  the  same  heart,  from 
which  there  emanates,  on  the  life  of  a  believer, 
the  practice  of  the  gospel, — how  a  righteous- 
ness that  is  without  the  deeds  of  the  law,  should 
stand  connected,  in  the  actual  history  of  him 
who  obtains  it,  with  a  zealous,  and  diligent,  and 
every-day  doing  of  these  deeds.  There  is  much 
in  all  this,  to  puzzle  the  man  who  is  experi- 
mentally a  stranger  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 
Nor  doyes  it  at  all  serve  to  extricate  or  to  en- 
lighten him,  when  he  is  made  to  perceive,  that, 
in  point  of  fact,  those  men  who  most  cordially 
assent  to  the  doctrine  of  salvation  being  all  of 
grace  and  not  of  works,  are  most  assiduous  in 
so  walking,  and  in  so  working,  and  in  so  pains- 
taking, as  if  salvation  were  all  of  works,  and  not 


SERMON  XVII.  .507 

of  grace.  The  fact  is  quite  obvious  and  uiujues- 
tionable.  But  the  principle  on  which  it  rests, 
remains  a  mystery  to  the  general  eye  of  tlie 
world.  They  marvel,  but  they  go  no  fartlicr. 
They  see  that  thus  it  is,  but  they  see  not  how  it 
is;  and  they  put  it  down  among  those  inexpli- 
cable oddities  which  do  at  times  occur,  both 
in  the  moral  and  natural  kingdom  of  the  crea- 
tion. 

But  in  all  our  attempts  to  dissipate  this  ob- 
scurity, it  is  well  to  advert  to  the  total  (liffercnce 
between  him  who  has  the  faith,  and  him  w  lio 
has  it  not  The  one  has  the  materials  of  the 
argument  under  his  eye,  and  within  the  grasp 
of  his  handling.  The  other  may  be  able  to  re- 
cognize in  the  argument,  a  logical  and  consist- 
ent process  ;  but  he  is  at  a  loss  about  the  simple 
conceptions,  which  form  the  materials  of  the 
argument.  He  is  like  a  man  who  can  jierfonn 
all  the  manipulations  of  an  algebraical  process, 
while  he  feels  not  the  force  or  the  significancy 
of  the  symbols.  His  habits  of  ratiocination 
enable  him  to  perceive,  that  there  is  a  connec- 
tion between  the  ideas  in  the  argument.  But 
the  ideas  themselves  are  not  manifest  to  him. 
It  is  not  in  the  power  of  reasoning  to  supply 
this  want.  Reasoning  cannot  create  the  pri- 
mary materials  of  the  argument.  It  only  ce- 
ments them  together.  And  here  it  is,  that  you 
are  met  by  the  impotency  of  human  deinonstni- 
t.ion,— and  are  reduced  to  the  attitude  of  kimck- 


398  SERMON  XVII. 

ing  at  a  door  which  you  cannot  open, — and  feel 
your  need  of  an  enlightening  spirit, — and  are 
made  to  perceive,  that  it  is  only  on  the  threshold 
of  Christianity,  where  you  can  hold  the  inter- 
course of  a  common  sympathy  and  understand- 
ing with  the  world,— and  that,  to  be  admitted 
to  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  you 
must  pass  into  a  region  of  manifestation,  where 
the  world  cannot  follow,  but  where  it  will  cast 
the  imputation  of  madness,  and  of  mysticism 
after  you. 

Without  attempting  to  define  faith,  as  to  the 
nature  of  it,  which  could  not  be  done  but  with 
other  words  more  simple  than  itself,  let  us  look 
to  the  objects  of  faith,  and  see  whether  there  do 
not  emanate  from  them,  a  sanctifying  influence 
on  the  heart  of  every  real  belie  ver. 

First,  then,  the  whole. object  of  faith,  is  the 
matter  of  tlie  testimony  of  God  in  Scripture.  So 
that  though  faith  be  a  single  principle,  and  is 
designated  in  language  by  a  single  term, — yet 
this  by  no  means  precludes  it  from  being  such 
a  principle,  as  comes  into  contact,  and  is  con- 
versant, with  a  very  great  variety  of  objects.  In 
this  respect  it  may  bear  a  resemblance  to  sight, 
or  hearing,  or  any  other  of  the  senses,  by  which 
man  holds  communication  with  the  external 
things  that  are  near  him,  and  around  him.  The 
same  eye  which,  when  open,  looks  to  a  friend, 
and  ceui,  from  that  very  look,  afford  entrance 
into  the  heart  for  an  emotion  of  tenderness,  wiU 


SERMON  XVll.  399 

also  behold  other  visible  things,  and  takr  in  an 
appropriate  influence  from  each  of  tlicni, — will 
behold  the  prospect  of  beauty  that  is  before  it, 
and  thence  obtain  gratification  to  the  taste, — or 
will  behold  the  sportive  feUcity  of  animals,  and 
thence  obtain  gratification  to  the  benevolence, 
— or  will    behold   the    precipice  beneath,    and 
thence  obtain  a  warning  of  danger,  or  a  direction 
of  safety, — or  may  behold  a  thousand  diflbrent 
objects,  and  obtain  a  thousand  different  feelings 
and  different  intimations. 

Now  the  same  of  faith.     It  has  been  called 
the  eye  of  the  mind.     But  whether  this  be   a 
well  conceived  image  or  not,  it  certainly  aflbrds 
an  inlet  to  the  mind  for  a  great  variety  of  com- 
munications.    The  Apostle  calls  faith  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen,— not  of  one    such 
thing,  but  of  very  many  such  things.     The  man 
who   possesses  faith,  can  be  no  more  intellec- 
tually blind  to  one  of  these  things,  and  at  the 
same  time  knowing  and  believing  as  to  another 
of  them,  than  the  man  who  possesses  sight  can. 
with  his  eye  open,  perceive  one  external  object, 
and  have  no  perception  of  another,  which  stand- 
as    nearly  and  as    conspicuously   before  him. 
The  man  who  is  destitute  of  sight,  uill  never 
know  what  it  is  to  feel  the  charm  of  visible  seen 
ery.  But  grant  him  sight ;  and  he  will  not  only  hr 
made  alive  to  this  charm,  but  to  a  mult.tiKle  of 
other  influences,  all  emanadng  from  the  varioiL- 
objects  of  visible  nature,  through  the  eye  upo., 


400  SERMON  XVII. 

the  mind,  and  against  which  his  blindness  had 
before  opposed  a  hopeless  and  invincible  bar- 
rier.    And  the  man  who  is  destitute  of  faith, 
will  never  know  what  it  is  to  feel  the  char?ii   of 
the  peace-speaking  blood  of  Christ.     But  grant 
him  faith ;  and  he  will  not  only  be  made  alive  to 
this  charm,  but  to   a  multitude  of  other  influ- 
ences, all  emanating  from  the  various  truths  of 
revelation,  through  this  intellectual  organ,    on 
the  heart  of  him  who  was  at  one  time  blind, 
but  has  now  been  made  to  see.     This  will  help, 
in  some  measure,  to  clear  up  the  perplexity  to 
which  we  have  just  now  adverted.     They  who 
are  under  its  darkening  influence,  conceive  of 
the  faith  which  worketh  peace,  that  it  has  only 
to  do  with  one  doctrine,  and  that  that  one  doc- 
trine relates  to  Christ,  as  a  peace-offering  for  sin. 
Now,  it  is  very  true,  that  it  has  to  do  with  this 
one  doctrine  ;  but  it  has  also  to  do  with  other 
doctrines,  all  equally  presented  before  it  in  the 
very  same  record,  and  the  view  of  all  which  is 
equally  to  be  had,  from  the  very  same  quarter 
of  contemplation.     In   other  words,   the'  very 
same  opening  of  the  mental  eye,  through  which 
the  peace  of  the  gospel  finds  entrance  into  the 
lK)som  of  a  faithful  man,  aflbrds  an  entrance  for 
the  righteousness  of  the  gospel  along  with  it. 
The  truth  that  Christ  died  for  the  sins  of  the 
world,  will  cast  upon  his  mind  its  apppropriate 
influence.      But  so  also  will   the    truth    that 
Christ  is  to  judge  the  world,  and  the  truth  that 


SERMON  XVIL  401 

unless  ye  repent  ye  shall  perish,  and  the  iruth 
that  they  who  have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life, 
are  they  who  keep  the  commanchncnts,  tjid  the 
truth,  that  an  unrighteous  man  shall  nut  inlurit 
the  kingdom  of  God.  If  a  man  see  not  every 
one  object  that  is  placed  within  the  sphere  ot*  his 
natural  vision,  he  sees  none  of  the  in,  and  his 
whole  body  is  full  of  darkness.  If  a  man  be- 
lieve the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  God,  he  will 
read  it ;  but  if  he  read  it,  and  believe  not  every 
one  truth  that  lies  within  the  grasp  of  his  un- 
derstanding, he  believes  none  of  them,  and  is 
in  darkness,  and  knoweth  not  whither  he  is  go- 
ing. 

If  I  open  the  door  of  my  mind  to  the  u  ord 
of  God,  I  as  effectually  make  it  the  repository 
of  various  truths,  as,  if  I  open  the  door  of  my 
chamber,  and  take  in  the  Bible,  I  make  this 
chamber  the  repository  of  the  book,  and  of 
every  chapter,  and  of  every  verse,  that  is  con- 
tained in  it.  I  thus  bring  my  mind  into  con- 
tact with  every  one  influence,  that  every  one 
truth  is  fitted  to  exercise  over  h.  If  there  be 
nothing  in  these  U'uths  contradictory  to  each 
other,  (and  if  there  be,  let  this 'set  aside,  as  it 
ought,  the  authority  of  the  whole  connnunica- 
tion,)  then  the  mind  acts  a  right  and  consisunt 
part  in  beUeving  each  of  them,  and  in  submit- 
ting itself  to  the  influence  of  each  of  them.  And 
thus  it  is,  that  believing  the  propitiati(jn  u  hich  is 
through  th?  blood  of  Christ,  for  the  remission 
•5  J 


402  SERMON  XVll. 

of  sins  that  are  past,  I  may  feel  through   huH 
the  peace  of  reconciliation  with  the  Father; 
and  believing  that  he  who  cometh  unto  Christ 
for  forgiveness  must  forsake  all,   I  may  also 
feel  the  necessity  which  lies  upon  me  of  de- 
parting from  all  iniquity ;  and  believing  that  in 
myself  there  is  no  strength,    for    the  accom- 
plishment of  such  a  task,  I  may  look  around 
for  other  expedients,  than  such  as  can  be  de- 
vised by  my  own  natural  wisdom,  or  carried  in- 
to effect  by  my  own  natural  energies ;  and  be- 
lieving that,  in  the  hand   of  Christ  there  are 
gifts  for  the  rebellious,  and  that  one  of  these 
gifts  is  the  Holy  Spirit  to  strengthen  his  disci- 
ples, I  may  look  to  him  for  my  sanctification, 
even  as  I  look  unto  him  for  my    redemption ; 
and  believing  that  the  gift  is  truly  promised  as 
an  answer  to  prayer,  I  may  mingle  a  habit  of 
prayer,  with  a  habit  of  watchfulness  and  of  en- 
deavour.    And  thus  may  I  go  abroad  over  the 
whole  territory  of  divine  truth,  and  turn  to  its 
legitimate  account  every  separate  portion  of  it, 
and  be  in  all  a  trusting,  and  a  working,  and  a 
praying,  and  a  rejoicing,  and  a  trembling  dis- 
ciple,— and  that,  not  because  I  have  given  my- 
self up  to  the  guidance   of  clashing  and    con- 
tradictory principles, — but  because,  with  a  faith 
commensurate  to  the  testimony  of  God,  I  give 
myself  over  in  my  whole  mind,  and  whole  per- 
son, to  the  authority  of  a  whole  Bible. 


SERMON  XVir.  ^o 

But,  secondly,  let  us  take  wliat  some  may 
thmk  a  more  restricted  view  of  the  object  of 
faith,  and  suppose  it  to  be  Jesus  Christ  in  his 
person  and  in  his  character.  It  is  a  buuiinary, 
but  at  the  same  time,  a  most  true  and  substan- 
tial affirmation,  that  we  are  saved  by  faith  in 
Christ.  And  yet  this  very  affirmation,  true  as 
It  IS,  may  have  been  so  misunderstood  as  to 
darken  the  minds  of  many,  into  the  very  mis- 
conception that  we  are  attempting  to  expose. 
I  could  not  be  said  to  have  faith  in  an  ac- 
quaintance,  if  I  behoved  not  all  that  he  told 
me.  Nor  have  I  faith  in  Christ,  if  I  believe 
not  every  item  of  that  communication  of  which 
he  is  the  author,  either  by  himself  or  by  his 
messengers.  So  that  faith  in  Christ,  so  far  from 
excluding  any  of  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  com- 
prehends our  assent  to  them  all.  But  we  are 
willing  to  admit, that  the  phrase  is  calculated  to 
fasten  our  attention  more  particularly  on  such 
truth  as  relates,  in  a  more  immediate  manner,  to 
the  person  and  the  doings  of  the  Saviour.  Take 
it  in  this  sense,  and  you  will  find,  that  though 
eminently  and  directly  fitted  to  work  peace  in 
the  heart  of  a  believer,  it  is  just  as  direcdy  and 
as  powerfully  on  the  side  of  his  practical  right- 
eousness. When  I  think  of  Christ,  and  think 
of  him  as  one  who  has  poured  out  his  soul  unto 
the  death  for  me,  I  feel  a  confidence  in  draw- 
ing near  unto  God.  When  employed  in  this 
contemplation,  I  look  to  him  as  a  crucified  Sa- 


404  SERMON  XVlf. 

viour.     But  without  keeping  mine  eye  for   a 
single  moment  from   off  his  person,— without 
another  exercise  of  mind,  than  that  by  which  I 
look  unto  Jesus,  simply  and  entirely,  as  he  is  set 
forth  unto  me,— I  also  behold  him  at  one  time  as 
an  exalted  Saviour,   and   at  another  time  as  a 
commanding  Saviour,  and  at  another  time  as  a 
strengthening  Saviour.     In  other  words,  by  the 
mere  work  of  faith  in  Christ,  I  bring  my  heart 
into  contact  with  all  those  motives,  and  all  those 
elements  of  influence,  which  give  rise  to  the  new 
obedience  of  the  gospel.     When  the  veil  betwixt 
me  and  the  Saviour  is  withdrawn, — when  God 
shines  in  my  heart  with  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  his  own  glory  in  the  face  of  his  Son, — 
when  the  Spirit  taketh  of  the  things  of  Christ, 
and  showeth  them  unto  me,  and  I  am  asked 
which  of  the  things  it  is  that  is  most  fitted  to 
arrest  a   convicted  sinner,   in  the  midst  of  his 
cries  and  prayers  for  deliverance, — I  would  say, 
that  it  was  Christ  lifted  up  on  the  cross  for  his 
offences,  and  pouring  out  the  blood  of  that  migh- 
ty  expiation,  by  which  the  guilt  of  them  all  is 
washed  away.     This  is  the  rock  on  which  he 
will  build  all  his  hopes   of   acceptance   before 
God.     He  wull  look  unto  Christ,  and  be  at  .peace. 
But  this  is  not  the  only  attitude  in  which  Christ 
is  revealed  to  him.     He  will  look  to  Christ  as 
an  example.     He  will  look  to  him  as  a  teacher. 
He. will  look  to  him  in  all  the  capacities  which 
are  attached  to  the  person,   or  identified  with 


SERMON  XVII.  .uxb 

the  doings  of  the  Saviour.  He  will  look  to  him, 
asserting  his  right  of  authority  aiui  disposal  over 
those  whom  he  has  purchased  unto  hiinsclf.  i  Ic 
will,  by  the  eye  of  faith,  see  that  rebuking 
glance  which  our  Saviour  cast  over  the  miscon- 
duct of  his  disciples, — and  which,  when  Vcw.t 
saw,  by  the  eye  of  sight,  he  was  so  m()\  cd  by 
the  spectacle,  that  he  went  out  and  wcj)t  Utter- 
ly. That  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ, 
in  the  name  of  which,  Paul  besought  his  dis- 
ciples to  walk  no  more  after  the  flesh,  w  ill  be 
present  in  its  influence  on  those  who,  though 
they  see  him  not,  yet  believe  him,  and  have 
their  conceptions  filled  and  satisfied  with  his 
likeness.  They  will  behold  him  to  be  an  exalt- 
ed Prince,  as  well  as  an  exalted  Sa\'iour, — anrl 
they  will  count  it  a  faithful  saying,  that  he  came 
to  sanctify  as  well  as  redeem, — and  they  w  ill 
look  upwards  to  his  present  might  as  a  command- 
er, as  well  as  forwards  to  his  future  majesty  as 
a  judge, — and  they  will  be  thoroughly  ])crsuad- 
ed,  that  to  persevere  in  sin,  is  altogether  to 
thwart  the  great  aim  of  the  entcrprize  of  our 
redemption, — and  they  will  understand,  as  Paul 
did,  who  affnmed,  with  expostulations  and  tears, 
that  the  enemies  of  righteousness  arc  also  the 
enemies  of  the  cross; — and  thus,  from  Christ,  in 
all  his  various  attitudes,  will  a  moralizing  power 
descend  on  the  hearts  of  those  w  ho  really  bc- 
Ueve  in  him, — and  as  surely  as  any  man  pos- 


406  SERMON  XVII. 

sesses  the  faith  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  so  surely 
will  he  be  sanctified  by  that  faith. 

And,  thirdly,  let  us  confine  our  attention  still 
farther,  to  one  particular  article  of  our  faith. 
Paul  was  determined  to  know  nothing,  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified.  Now,  conceive 
faith  to  attach  itself  to  the  latter  clause  of  this 
verse,  and  that  Christ  crucified,  for  the  time 
being,  is  the  single  object  of  its  contemplation. 
There  is  still  no  such  thuig  as  a  true  faith,  at- 
taching itself  to  this  one  object  exclusively ; 
and  though  at  one  time  it  may  be  the  sole  con- 
templation which  engrosses  it,  at  other  times  it 
may  have  other  contemplations.  If,  in  fact,  it 
shut  out  those  other  contemplations,  which  are 
furnished  by  the  subject-matter  of  the  testimo- 
ny of  God,  it  may  be  proved  now,  and  it  will 
be  proved  in  the  day  of  reckoriing,  to  be  no 
faith  at  all.  But  just  as  it  has  been  said,  that 
the  mind  can  only  think  of  one  thing  at  a  time, 
so  faith  may  be  employed,  for  a  time,  in  looking 
only  towards  one  object;  and  as  we  said  before, 
let  Christ  crucified  be  conceived  to  be  that  one 
object.  From  what  has  been  said  already,  it 
will  be  seen,  that  this  one  exercise  of  faith  will 
not  counteract  the  legitimate  effect  of  the  other 
exercises.  But  we  should  like  to  compute  the 
influence  of  this  one  exercise  on  the  heart  and 
life  of  a  believer.  In  the  case  of  an  Antinomi- 
an,  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  may  furnish 


SERMON  XVII.  407 

a  pretext  and  a  pacification  to  liis  conscience, 
under  a  wilful  habit  of  perseverance  in  iniquity. 
But  if  this  partial  faith  of  his  be  not  a  real  faitli, 
then  we  are  not  res})onsible  for  his  conduct,  nor 
ought  he  to  be  at  all  quoted  as  an  exception 
against  that  alliance,  for  which  we  are  contend- 
ing, between  the  faith  of  the  gospel  and  the 
cause  of  practical  righteousness.  Only  grant 
the  faith  to  be  real,  and  as  there  is  no  one  doc- 
trine of  the  Bible,  out  of  which  it  may  not  gath- 
er a  purifying  influence  to  the  heart, — so  out  of 
this  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  will  such  a  puri- 
fying influence  descend  most  abundantly  on  the 
heart  of  every  genuine  believer. 
^  For,  it  first  takes  away  a  wall  of  partition, 
which,  in  the  case  of  every  man  who  has  not 
received  this  doctrine,  lies  across  the  path  of 
his  obedience  at  the  very  commencement.  So 
long  as  I  think  that  it  is  quite  impossible  for 
me  so  to  run  as  to  obtain,  I  will  not  move  a 
single  footstep.  Under  the  burden  of  a  hope- 
less controversy  between  me  and  God,  I  feel 
as  it  were  weighed  down  to  the  inactivity  of 
despair.  1  live  without  hope  ;  and  so  long  as  I 
do  so,  I  live  without  God  in  the  world.  And 
besides,  he,  while  the  object  of  my  terror,  is  also 
the  object  of  my  aversion.  The  helpless  ne- 
cessity under  which  I  labour,  so  long  as  the 
question  of  my  guilt  remains  unsettled,  is  to 
dread  the  Being  whom  I  am  commanded  to  love. 
I  may  occasionally  cast  a  feeble  regard  tow  ard- 


408  SERMON  XVil. 

that  distant  and  inaccessible  Lawgiver  :  But  so 
long  as  I  view  him  shrouded  in  the  darkness  of 
frowning  majesty,  1  can  place  in  him  no  trust, 
and  I  can  bear  towards  him  no  filial  tenderness. 
I   may  occasionally  consult  the    requirements 
of  his  law :    But  when   1  look    to  the   uncan- 
celled sentence  that  is  against  me,  I  can  never 
tread,  with  hopeful  or  assured  footsteps,  on  the 
career  of  obedience.      But  let  me   look  unto 
Christ  lifted  up  for  our  offences,  and  see  the 
hand  writing  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us, 
and  which  was  contrary  unto   us,  nailed  to  his 
cross,   and  there  blotted  out,  and  taken  out  of 
the  way ;  and  then  I  see  the  barrier  in  question 
levelled  with  the  ground.     I  now  behold   the 
way  of  repentance  cleared  of  the  obstructions, 
by    which   it  was   aforetime   rendered   utterly 
impassable.       This  is  the  wdll  of  God, — even 
your  sanctification,  may  be  sounded  a  thousand 
times  in   the  ear  of  an  unbeUever,  and  leave 
him  as  immoveable  as  it  found  him ;  because, 
while  under  a   sense   of  unexpiated  guilt,   he 
sees  a  mighty  parapet  before   him,   which  he 
cannot  scale.     But  if  the  same  words  be  sound- 
ed in  the  ears  af  a  believer,  they  will  put  him 
into  motion.     For  to  him  the  parapet  is  opened 
up,  and  the  rough  way  is  made  smooth,  and  the 
mountain  and  the  hill  are  brought  low,  and  the 
valley  of  separation  is  filled,  and  he  is  made  to 
see  the  salvation  of  God.    The  path  of  obedi- 
ence is  made  level  before  him.  and  he   enters 


V 


SERMON  XVII.  409 

it  with  the  inspiration  of  a  new  and  invigorating 
principle;    and    that  love  to    God,  which    the 
consciousness  of  guik  will  ever  keep  at   a  dis- 
tance from  the   heart,  now  takes  up  the  room 
of  this  terrifying,  and  paralysing,   and  alienat- 
ing  sentiment;  and  the  reception  of  tlii<  doc- 
trine of  atonement  is  just  as  much  the  turning 
point   of  a   new  character,  as   it  is  the  turning 
point  of  a  new  hope ;  and  it  is  the  very  point, 
in  the  history  of  every  hiniian  soul,   at  which 
the  alacrity  of  gospel   obedience  takes   its  com- 
mencement, as  well  as  the  chetjrfulness  of  gos- 
pel   anticipations.     Till  this   doctrine    be    be- 
lieved, there  is  no  attempt  at  obedience  at  all ; 
or  else,   it  is  such   an   obedience   as   is  totally 
unanimated  by   the   life   and  the   love  of  real 
godliness.     And  it  is  not  till  this  doctrine  has 
taken  possession  of  the  mind,  that  any  m  in  can 
take  up  the  language  of  the  Psalmist,  aud  say, 
"  Lord,  I  am   thy  servant,  I  am  thy  servant, 
thou  hast  loosed  my  bonds." 

Conceive,  then,  a  behever  with  the  cai'cer  of 
obedience  thus  opened  up  and  made  hopeful  to 
him,— conceive  him  with  the  necessity  of  obe- 
dience made  just  as  authentically  known  to  him, 
as  are  the  tidings  of  his  deUverance  froiu  guilt, 
—conceive  a  man  who,  by  the  act  of  render- 
ing homage  to  the  truth  of  God,  rests  a  con- 
fidence in  the  death  of  Christ  for  pai'don,  and 
who  also,  by  the  very  same  act,  subscribes  to 
the  sayings  of  Christ  about  repentance,  and 


410  SERMON  XVIL 

the  new  walk  of  the  new  creature, — and  theia 
let  me  ask  you  to  think  of  the  securities  which 
encompass  his  mind,  and    protect  it  from  the 
delusion  that  we  have  already  alluded  to.     We 
have  said  that  the  peace  which  is  felt  in  a  vague 
apprehension  of  God's  mercy,  and  which  makes 
no   account  of  his  truth,  or  of  his  justice,  has 
the   effect  of  making   him   who   entertains   it 
altogether  stationary,  in  point  of  acquirement. 
With  the  semblance  of  good  that  he  has  about 
him,  he  will  meet  the  sterner  attributes  of  the 
Deity.     For  his  defect  of  real   good,  he  will 
draw  on  the  indulgent  attributes  of  the  Deity. 
He  will  make  the  character  of  God,  suit  itself 
to  his  own  character,  so  that  any  stimulus  to 
advance  or  to  perfect  it,   shall  be    practically 
done  away.     And    thus  it  is,  that   along   the 
whole   range  of  human  accomplishment,   you 
may  observe  an  unvaried  state  of  repose, — the 
repose,  in  fact,  of  death, — for  the  repose  of  men 
who  brought  to  the  estimate  of  a  spiritual  law, 
will  be  found,  to  use  the  significant  language  of 
the  Bible,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins, — sinning 
at  one  time  without  remorse,  trusting  at  another 
time  without  foundation. 

Now  the  gospel  scheme  of  mercy  is  clear  of 
this  abuse  altogether.  It  comes  forth  upon 
the  sinner  with  an  antidote  against  this  securi- 
ty, just  as  strong  and  as  prominent  as  is  its  an- 
tidote against  despair.  Insomuch  that  the 
state  of  the  believer,  in  respect  of  motive  and 


SERMON  XVII.  411 

of  practical  influence,   is  the    very  reverse  ol 
what  we  have  now  adverted  to.     In  the  act  of 
becoming   a   believer,    he   awakens    from    the 
deep   and    the   universal    lethargy    ol*    nature. 
With  his  new   hope  commences  his   new  lite. 
He  ceases  to  be  stationary, — and  whm  is  more, 
he   never  ceases  to  be   progressive.     He   does 
not  satisfy  himself  with  barely  moving  onwards 
to  a  higher  point  in  the  scale  of  human  attain- 
ment,  and  then  sitting  down   with  the  senti- 
ment that  it  is  enough.     He   never  comits  it 
enough.     The    practical    attitude    of   the    be- 
liever is  that  of  one  w^ho  is  ever  looking  for- 
wards.    The   practical   movement  of  the  be- 
liever is  that  of  one  who  is  ever  pressing  for- 
wards.    He  could  not,  without  a  surrender  of 
those  essential  principles  which  make  him  what 
he  is,  tarry  at  any  one  point  in  the  gradation 
of  moral  excellence.     It  is  not  more  insepara- 
ble from  him  to  be  ever  doing  well,  than  it  is 
inseparable  from  him  to  be  ever  aspiring  to  do 
better.     So  that  the   paltry  question  about  the 
degrees  and  the  comparisons  of  virtue,  he  en- 
tertains not  for  a   moment ;  and,  w  ith  all  the 
aids  and  expedients  of  the  gospel   for    helping 
his  advancement,  does  he  strenuously  prosecute 
the  work   of  conforming  to  the  |)recept  of  the 
gospel, — to  be  grow  ing  in  gi'ace,  to  be  perfecting 
himself  in  holiness. 

It  has  been  a  much   controverted  question, 
how  far  this  process  of  continual  advancement 


412  SERMON  XVII. 

will  carry  a  believer  in  this  world.  Some  af- 
firm it  will  carry  him  to  the  point  of  absolute 
perfection.  Others  more  cautiously  satisfy 
themselves  by  the  remark,  that  whether  perfec- 
tion be  ever  our  attainment  or  not,  it  ought 
always  to  be  our  aim.  And  one  thing  seems 
to  be  certain, — that  there  is  no  such  perfec- 
tion in  this  world,  as  might  bring  along  with 
it  the  repose  of  victory.  Paul  counted  all 
that  was  behind  as  nothing,  and  he  pressed 
onwards.  And  it  is  the  experience  of  every 
Christian,  who  makes  a  real  business  of  Iv 
sanctification,  that  there  is  a  struggle  be- 
tween nature  and  grace,  even  unto  the  end^ 
There  is  no  discharge  from  this  warfare,  while 
we  are  in  the  body.  To  the  last  hour  of  life 
there  will  be  the  presence  of  a  carnal  nature 
to  humble  him,  and  to  make  him  vigilant;  and, 
with  every  true  Christian,  there  will  be  the 
ascendancy  of  grace,  so  as  that  this  nature  shall 
not  have  the  dominion  over  him.  The  corruption 
of  the  old  man  will  be  effectually  resisted ;  but 
not,  we  fear,  till  the  materialism  of  our  actual 
frames  be  resolved  into  dust,  will  this  corruption 
be  destroyed.  The  flesh  lusting  against  the 
spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh,  is  the  short 
but  compendious  description  of  the  state  of  eve- 
ry believer  in  the  world ; — and  could  the  evil 
and  adverse  principle  be  eradicated,  as  well  as 
overborne, — could  a  living  man  bid  the  sinful 
propensity,  with  all  its  workings  and  all  its  in- 


SERMON  XVII.  413 

clinations,  conclusively  away  from  him,— could 
the  authority  of  the  new  creature  obtain  such 
unrivalled  sway  over  the  whole  machinery  of 
the  affections  and  the  domgs,  that  resistance 
was  no  longer  felt,  and  the  batde  wzis  brouglit 
to  its  termination, — if  it  were  possible,  we  say, 
for  a  disciple,  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  to 
attain  the  eminency  of  a  condition  so  glo- 
rious, then  we  know  not  of  what  use  to  him 
would  be  either  a  death  or  a  resurrection, 
or  why  he  might  not  bear  his  (rarthly  tal)er- 
nacle  to  heaven,  and  set  him  down  by  direct 
translation  amongst  the  company  of  the  celes- 
tial. But  no !  There  hangs  about  the  person 
of  the  most  pure  and  perfect  Christian  upon 
earth,  some  mysterious  necessity  of  dying. 
That  body,  styled  with  such  emphasis  a  vile 
body,  by  the  Apostle,  must  be  pulverized  and 
made  over  again.  And  not  till  that  which  is 
sown  in  corruption  shall  be  raised  in  incor- 
ruption, — not  till  that  which  is  sown  in  weak- 
ness shall  be  raised  in  power, — not  till  that 
which  is  sown  a  natural  body  shall  be  raised  a 
spiritual  body, — not  till  the  soul  of  man  occupy 
another  tenement,  and  the  body  which  now 
holds  him  be  made  to  undergo  some  unknown 
but  glorious  transformation,  will  he  know  what 
it  is  to  walk  at  perfect  liberty,  and,  with  the 
full  play  of  his  then  emancipated  powers,  to 
expatiate  without  frailty,  and  without  a  tlaw,  m 
the  service  of  his  God. 


414  SERMON  XVIf. 

We  know  that  the  impression  which  manj 
have  of  the  disciples  of  the  gospel  is,  that  their 
great  and   perpetual  aim  is,  that  thej  may  be 
justified, — that  the  change  of  state  which  they 
are  ever  aspiring  after,  is  a  change  in  their  for- 
ensic state,  and  not  in  their  personal, — that  if 
they  can  only  attain   delivery  from  wrath,  they 
will  be  satisfied, — and  that  the  only  use  they 
make  of  Christ,  is,  through  his  means,  to  obtain 
an  erasure  of  the  sentence  of  their  condemna- 
tion.    Now,  though  this,  undoubtedly,   be   one 
great  design  of  the  gospel,  it  is  not  the  design 
in  which   it   terminates.      It  may,   in  fact,   be 
only  considered  as   a  preparation  for  an  ulte- 
rior accomplishment   altogether.     Christ  came 
to  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and   to  purify  us 
unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good 
works.     It  were  selfishness,  under  the  guise  of 
sacredness,  to  sit  down,  in  placid  contentment, 
with  the  single  privilege  of  justification.     It  is 
only  the  introduction  to  higher  privileges. 

But  not  till  we  submit  to  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  as  the  alone  meritorious  plea  of  our  ac- 
ceptance, shall  we  become  personally  righteous 
ourselves, — not  till  we  see  the  blended  love  and 
holiness  of  the  Godhea<d,  in  our  propitiation, 
shall  we  know  how  to  combine  a  confidence  in 
his  mercy,  with  a  reverence  for  his  character, — 
not  till  we  look  to  that  great  transaction,  by 
which  the  purity  of  the  divine  nature  is  vindi- 
cated, and  yet  the  sinner  is  delivered  from  the 


SERMON  XVII.  415 

coming  vengeance,  shall  we  be  freed  from  the 
dominion  of  sin,  or  be  led  to  admire  and  to 
imitate  the  great  Pattern  of  excellence.  The 
renewing  Spirit,  indeed,  is  withhold  from  all 
those  who  withhold  their  consent  from  lUe  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  and  of  him  crucified.  Paul  was 
determined  to  know  nothing  else  ;  and  it  is  in 
this  knowledge,  and  in  this  alone,  that  wo  are 
renewed  after  the  image  of  him  who  created 
us. 

Now  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again 
from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  great  shep- 
herd of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant,  make  you  perfect  m  every 
good  work  to  do  h!s  will,  working  in  you  that 
which  is  well-pleasing  in  his  sight,  through  Jesus 
Christ ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


FINIS. 


Printed  bv  J.  k  J.  Hnrj^ 

Nn.  138  f  ii!irii-Sire»». 


Date 

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